


Breaking the Cycle

by willowdrew1999



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Original Trilogy, Star Wars Prequel Trilogy, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Alderaan, Angst with a Happy Ending, Awkward Romance, Ben Solo Deserved Better, Ben Solo Has Issues, Ben Solo Lives, Ben Solo Needs A Hug, Ben Solo is Not Nice, Ben Solo is a Mess, Ben likes his Women Feisty, Blood and Gore, Bottom Ben Solo, Child Abandonment, Child Abuse, Child Neglect, Corellia (Star Wars), Devoted Rey/Ben Solo | Kylo Ren, Dom/sub Undertones, Emotional/Psychological Abuse, Enemies to Lovers, Eventual Happy Ending, Eventual Relationships, Eventual Romance, Eventual Sex, Eventual Smut, Explicit Sexual Content, F/M, Falling In Love, Fluff and Angst, Force Bond (Star Wars), Force Choking (Star Wars), Force Dyad (Star Wars), Force Ghost Anakin Skywalker, Force Ghost Obi-Wan Kenobi, Force Ghost Padmé Amidala, Force Sensitivity, Force Sex (Star Wars), Foundling Rey, Hoth (Star Wars), I'm Going to Hell, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Implied/Referenced Suicide, Inappropriate Use of the Force, Jakku, Light Dom/sub, Love Confessions, Love/Hate, Mandalorian, Mandalorian Rey, Married Rey/Ben Solo | Kylo Ren, Mild Gore, Mild S&M, Minor Poe Dameron/Finn, Oral Sex, Past Abuse, Physical Abuse, Poe Dameron/Finn Fluff, Power Bottom, Power Bottom Rey, Protective Rey (Star Wars), Rating: M, Redeemed Ben Solo, References to Canon, References to Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008), Relationship(s), Resolved Sexual Tension, Rey Needs A Hug, Rey Solo, Reylo AU Week, Reylo Week, Reylofest, Scavenger Rey (Star Wars), Sex, Sexual Content, Sexual Fantasy, Sexual Tension, Slow Build, Slow Burn, Slow Burn Rey/Kylo Ren, Slow Romance, Slow To Update, Soft Ben Solo, Soft Top Ben Solo, Strangers to Lovers, Suicidal Thoughts, The Dark Side of the Force, The Force, The Force Ships It, Top Rey (Star Wars), Vaginal Sex, Verbal Abuse, Virgin Ben Solo, Virgin Rey (Star Wars), references to original trilogy, references to prequels, sexual anxiety
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-03-21
Updated: 2020-06-10
Packaged: 2021-02-28 18:54:46
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 16
Words: 23,362
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23242087
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/willowdrew1999/pseuds/willowdrew1999
Summary: Rey is a Mandalorian on her final mission to get the money she needs to finally go searching for her parents. Ben Solo has finally broken the cycle of abuse and left Snoke for good.  These two go on an adventure together and find out they are a dyad in the force. Shit gets wild y'all.
Relationships: Kylo Ren/Rey, Rey & Ben Solo, Rey & Ben Solo | Kylo Ren, Rey/Ben Solo
Comments: 53
Kudos: 93





	1. Introduction

**Author's Note:**

> Hey everyone! I'm posting the introduction and the first chapter to see if anyone is interested in this story. If I get a pretty good response I will try to do weekly updates at the least! I was inspired by the amazing artist @musenilla (Miss Keisha) on twitter. She made these pieces: https://twitter.com/musenilla/status/1215688840716804097, https://twitter.com/musenilla/status/1226916052061188099
> 
> She is amazing and this fic would not have come to me without her!
> 
> Feel free to leave criticism as you see fit! I am not a professional writer and any tips and tricks would be greatly appreciated! I will probably come back and edit chapters as I see fit, so do be aware of that. I am a bit of a perfectionist, but I still look forward to getting feedback on this fic! Thank you for reading!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The photos by Miss Keisha are shown below! I will put them in their respective chapters as well!

Rey stalked into the bar to obtain her next bounty. She was going on a spree of runs so she could take the next couple of months off to search out her parents.

“Ah, Rey!” Sen Dorvin, the distributor, exclaimed, “I’ve been awaiting your arrival. I have just the bounty for you!”

“Keep it down, Dorvin, I don’t need the whole galaxy knowing my business," Rey said flatly.

Rey sat, setting her staff down after a scan of the room to ensure security.

“Yes, sorry, I forgot you Mandalore appreciate privacy,” there was a slight nod from Rey before Dorvin began his pitch, “So, as you know, about a month ago, Kylo Ren, Supreme Leader Snoke’s apprentice, went rogue and has not been found yet. We have only just now had a sighting on Naboo of all places.”

“Isn’t he Leia Organa’s son?” Rey said unamused.

“Yes, he must have wanted to visit the land of his grandmother I guess. Stupid kid. He should have just disappeared. He’s supposed to be a pilot prodigy like his father and grandfather. He could go anywhere without anyone being able to even get to him.”

“Sounds like a case of a child having a tantrum and running away out of spite,” Rey quipped.

“Ha! Genius as always!” Dorvin laughed.

“Yes, yes, now how much for the bounty?”

“Well, Snoke really wants him back so it’s pretty high,” Dorvin whispered, showing a holo of a large bag of what she could only assume was Beskar and a stack just as high of credits.

Rey’s eyes went wide under her mask, “I could make an entire set of new armor and then some. Snoke must really need him,” she scoffed.

“Well, it’s good for you, right?”

“Yeah, definitely. I’ll be able to take my break after this,” Rey hid her excitement as not to alert the rest of her surroundings of the mission.

“That’s why I made sure I pushed Snoke to have you for the mission. When you find him,” Dorvin slid a holo communicator to Rey, “call me and I will get the credits for you. Hopefully, you won’t have to actually bring him to Snoke himself.”

Rey took the communicator and stood to leave when she was stopped by Dorvin grabbing her arm.

“Exercise caution Rey, force users are very volatile. Kylo Ren may be a child, but he is very powerful in the force, and Snoke is comparable to Palpatine.”

Rey gives him a nod to calm him, “I have been trained since a foundling to always exercise caution. I will finish this mission with my limbs intact.”

“This is the way,” Dorvin said, surprising Rey with the use of the Mandalore saying.

“This is the way.”

And with that Rey left the bar and lept into her ship to head to Naboo. Little did she know how her life was about to change, meeting the fallen Prince of Alderaan.


	2. Ben Solo Breaks the Cycle

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Check the trigger warning! Ben is going through it guys!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TRIGGER WARNING: This chapter goes into the emotional and physical abuse Ben has endured from Snoke, the death of Han Solo, and suicide is discussed. If you are sensitive to any of these, read this chapter with caution. CHECK THE TAGS!

As Ben kneeled before Snoke, he looked up with a scared, pain-stricken face covered by his mask. The memories of his father's dying face never left him and Snoke could see it. 

“I gave you one job and you have failed again. You are completely useless!”

Ben stayed in silence, looking down at his hands.

“Take that stupid thing off, you have no use for it anymore,” Snake said referring to Ben’s mask.

Pulling himself together, Ben took the mask off and set it down on the ground. 

“I’m sorry master… I just...really need your guidance right now. Please.”

Ben looked up at the man he gave up everything for. The man he thought loved him like a father and wanted him to succeed and to be powerful like him.

“You need my guidance? I’ve given you my ‘guidance’ since you were a child, and you’re still useless. You’ve done nothing but disappoint me!”

Ben held back tears, but Snoke’s words tore him down one insult at a time, “I’ve given you everything I have! I killed Han Solo. When the time came I didn’t hesitate!”

“And because of it, your spirit is split down the bone. You will never be your grandfather. Alas...You’re just a child in a mask.”

The rage swelled within Ben and he stood to ignite his saber and slay his master but was suddenly struck down hard enough to knock the air out of his lungs. 

“Go back to your chambers. If you're lucky, I might not replace you.” and with that Snoke walked back to his throne and Ben got up to get in the elevator to leave. 

Ben held the mask he had worn to feel closer to Snoke and Vader for the past 7 years. He worked himself sick most days and always in pain. All of this training had led to nothing. He thought Snoke loved him. He thought someone finally cared about him. As the realization of what Snoke said sunk in he felt his rage come back. All the people he killed for him. All the missions he did to further Snoke’s empire... 

BANG

He hit the helmet on the side of the elevator with all his strength, cracking the glass, but only causing minimal damage to the mask.

“Useless.”

“Weak.”

He hit the helmet again…. And again….. And again. He kept doing this till the helmet was just a pile of crumpled up metal. Looking down at it, he felt a sense of clarity, but there was still a sense of longing for his master's approval.

When Ben entered his quarters, he sat on his bed and put his head in his hands. He decided to reach out one last time for guidance. If he got no response… he had been contemplating since he killed his father. One swift ignition of his saber to the heart would end this suffering… for good this time. No one would care, and the Galaxy would be better off without him.

"Be with me."

Minutes passed

"Please, be with me," Ben cried out in desperation for someone to care. For someone to love him. For someone to want him after everything he's done.

A few moments went by with no response. Just as Ben was about to take ahold of his saber-

"Ben."

A soft and loving voice entered the dark and depressed state of his room.

"... Grandma Padmé?"

"Yes, sweetheart. I'm surprised you remember me," Padmé said smiling and walking to sit on the bed next to Ben.

"I really needed you right now," Ben cried, reaching out for her to hold him like she did when he was young and in Jedi training away from his own mom.

The sight of this would be strange to anyone looking in. A large, powerful, even intimidating looking man, crying into a woman's chest. For Ben though, this was all that he needed. It was what Snoke provided in the beginning all be it in different ways than this.

"I'm so sorry, sweetheart. I'm here now," Padmé stroked Ben's hair like a mother comforting her child.

"I don't know what to do," Ben sobbed, "I've hurt so many people. I feel like I can't go home, but I can't stay here either. I just want this pain to end."

Padmé lets him cry for a few moments before speaking, "though what you have done can never be undone, there is still hope for you. As there is for anyone who needs it."

Ben looked up into his grandmother's eyes.

"You know what you have to do, and you do have the strength to do it. You have to be brave. Break the cycle, Ben... It's the only way."

"Don't let Snoke destroy my family, Ben," Anakin said, appearing next to Padmé but in a light blue shade.

"Someone out there waiting for you, there is," Yoda said as Ben turned to see all the force ghosts in front of him.

"We all believe in you, Ben," Obi-Wan said softly.

Ben thought for a moment. He was overwhelmed by all of the love and care being shown to him. He knew exactly what he had to do.

"Thank you. I will make you proud," Ben said, standing to his feet to prepare himself to leave.

"You already have," they all said together as they disappeared back into the universe.

As Ben packed his bag to leave, a stormtrooper knocked on his door, assumingly to inform him that Snoke wanted him to come back to his throne room. He walked calmly to the door so as not to frighten the poor trooper. 

“Kylo Ren, may I come in?” The trooper said quickly, almost urgently. 

Ben moved to the side to allow him in. He didn’t feel like being an asshole. As the door closed the trooper removed his helmet and looked to Kylo.

“You.” Kylo remembered this trooper, “you helped that piolet escape! You fucked my entire fucking life up! How dare you come here. Do you have a death wish?!”

FN2187 flinched at the force users rage, “look, I know you’re pissed but please hear me out and don’t kill me!”

FN was on his knees begging Ben to spare him. As mad as Ben was, he didn’t want to be evil anymore. 

“You have ten minutes to explain yourself.”

FN looked up at him like he was a savior of some sort and jumped up to hug him.

“Thank you so much, I’m so sorry!” Ben allowed the brief hug and looked into his eyes.

“You better start talking,” Ben said, anger still glinting in his eyes.

“Okay, so I have been having doubts about the First Order since the weapon destroyed all those planets. When I saved you on Star Killer base, I got some sort of … I don’t know, feeling… awakening? You’re a force user, you know the terminology. I started noticing I could feel things in the universe and when I went back to my quarters I was able to lift small items. I’ve never been able to do that.”

“You’re force sensitive?” Ben said quietly, “show me.”

FN concentrated his energy into a small glass on the table they were near and lifted it briefly into the air, and set it down.

“Hmm. As interesting as I do find that, it still doesn’t explain why you helped that piolet escape?”

“He worked directly with your mom. I could sense… What would you call it? Happiness? Like a small bit of good in you, but a lot of sadness and anger as well. Poe wanted to find out what was going on with you basically.”

Ben looked down thinking of his mom, “It's called the light and the dark. For as long as I’ve known, I’ve been pulled to the Darkside by Snoke…”

“That’s what Poe told me. Your mom wants to save you, she senses your conflict, especially since you killed Han Solo.”

Ben snapped his head up at his father’s name, “Don’t speak his name!”

“Sorry! Sorry! Anyways… I helped him escape to give your mom information to help you.”

Ben allowed for a pause and then stood to his feet again, “Luckily for you, I’m not going to have you executed… mostly because I don’t want to see anyone else die. I just want to get out of here, and you are going to help me.”

“Gladly! We can go to Cantonica! The Resistance is there with your mom!”

“NO!... I’m not ready to face her yet... I need time to figure myself out… Take me to Naboo, please.”

FN paused for a moment but decided to comply with the massive man in front of him for fear he would change his mind at any moment. 

"Okay, I'll take you to Naboo, but you need to stay hidden." 

Ben smirked looking down at FN's helmet.

"I have an idea.”


	3. Ben Solo and Finn’s Grand Escape

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Finn and Ben get away from Snoke's grasp and break the cycle of abuse forced upon them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you guys so much for all your support! I know some of you are here from Miss Kiesha's Instagram story, so welcome! As she said, you can follow me on Instagram @teatimeraven. That is just my art account though, so if you want chapter updates or just updates from me in general, go to my twitter: @willowdrew1989. I retweet a lot of good reylo Fanart and I might start actually tweeting if I have an audience to talk to!
> 
> Again, send all the love to @musenilla for the fan art that started the whole story! I may add fan art to this chapter. I need to hear back from the artist to get their permission first, but I really wanted to post so that you guys can have more content! Thanks for reading!
> 
> Edit: The artist has given me permission to use her art so it will be placed in the story where It fits! Here is her twitter: @jen_aberin . She is an amazing artist, so go check her out!

“So,” Ben said quietly, walking towards their escape ship, “Do you have a name other than FN2187… I never liked calling people by numbers.”

“OH, well, Poe, that pilot called me Finn.”

“That sounds fitting,” Ben said simply.

“He’s supposedly the best pilot in the galaxy,” Finn whispered.

“Ha!” Ben laughed, forgetting he needed to be quiet, but was relieved when he saw no one was in the hallway, “We'll see about that.”

“What do you mean?”

“I am the son of Han Solo and grandson of Anakin Skywalker. Two of the best pilots in all the Galaxy," Ben explained, pride filling his chest at his lineage. Slowly that pride slipped away as he remembered his family's other legacies, "I've only ever wanted to be a pilot."

"Wow! I guess he has some competition then, huh?"

Ben looked down at Finn, a partial smile on his face at his optimism. It reminded him of himself… all those years ago. Oh, what he could have been if Snoke had never known of him. If only he had made better decisions. He could have finished his Jedi training. He could have been home by now with his family by now. Maybe gone on some adventures with his dad and his mom could have been a senator… maybe he'd even have a lover by now.

"This way Ren," Finn whispered, leading Ben to the ship on the loading dock, "we have to be fast, and let me do the talking… you have a very distinct voice."

Ben chuckled to himself, "I can do mind tricks, Finn."

"Wait, you can do that?? Why didn't you say that in the beginning?"

"You were so excited about your plan. I didn't want to be a killjoy," Ben facepalm internally for being like his father.

Finn sighed but allowed Ben to lead the way instead. They walked towards the ship avoiding eye contact with anyone.

"FN 2187, what are you doing here? Are you going on another mission?" A chrome trooper stepped in front of the two, blocking the opening of the ship.

"We are going on a mission for Snoke to the ice planet, Hoth," Ben said, waving his hand in front of Phasma's eyes.

"You're going on a mission for Snoke on Hosk… have a safe journey…" Phasma walked away slowly, prompting Finn and Ben to get on the ship quickly, as not to seem suspicious.

"Alright, I'm gonna need you to copilot for me,” Ben said, closing the door and removing his helmet when it was completely closed.

"Haha… about that... " Finn said nervously, "I uhh, I never learned how to fly…"

Ben facepalmed with a heavy sigh, "I told Hux to train every trooper to fly. Nevermind that now, I'll show you how to, just get in your seat."

Finn ran off to his seat while Ben set down his bag of supplies to grab his dad's golden dice. Ben gently grazed the smooth surface of them with the pad of his thumb, wondering where his dad was now...

"Kylo! We need to go now!"

Ben snapped out of his trance, rising to his full height to run over to Finn.

"What's-" Ben stopped when he saw the armada of storm troopers marching out in front of their ship.

Finn looked up at him, panicked.

"Alright, maybe we should have gone with your plan," Ben said sitting down and readying the ship.

Finn looked Ben up and down, "REALLY??! I thought you were an all-powerful sith Lord!"

"I'm not all-powerful," Ben explained, "ready the cannons, we may need to blast our way out of here."

Finn began to search for the controller and Ben set them up for liftoff.

**Leaving so fast Kylo Ren?**

_Get out of my head._

Ben kicked on the engine and looked around to take off out of the deck.

"Shoot down the force field over the exit now!"

"Will do,” Finn said, finally finding the controls for the canons

**You can't get away that easily, Ren.**

_Watch me._

"Kylo, they're shooting at us," Finn said nervously.

"Turn on the protective shield, and shoot back!"

**You won't get far. Come back, my boy. You know I only want you to be the best.**

"Go fuck yourself!!" Ben said as he shot the ship out into space.

"Whoa buddy, I did what you told me to!"

Ben looked over at Finn to apologize but saw ships zooming their way. He swiftly went into a tailspin to dodge the blasts.

"I'm gonna throw up, holy shit!"

"Hold on and get ready to jump to lightspeed."

**Don't do this, Ren. You are linked to me as long as you live.**

"I would sooner KILL MYSELF YOU MOTHER FUCKER!"

_**-VOOOM-** _

Ben took a breath of fresh air seeing the familiar blue streaks of light speed, knowing they were getting far away from their attackers. Finn sat staring at Ben, very confused by him talking to himself. Suddenly, he felt something very dark leave him for the first time in so many years. Ben and Finn felt peace in the Galaxy.

"Oh, my maker…" Ben said quietly, "I'm free."

Finn looked at Ben a bit confused. Silence overtook the cockpit for a moment, but then was interrupted by Ben's soft whimpers.

"I'm free!" Ben looked up at Finn, "we're free!"

Finn was flabbergasted at Ben's show of emotion. As long as he'd known Kylo Ren, he was stoick. The only feeling he emanated was pure rage, but here… he was crying. Crying tears of relief and joy. It shocked Finn.

"Well not quite, but we do have a running chance now," Finn said, smiling back pulling Ben into a hug, patting his back.

"Ben."

"What?"

"That's… my real name. Ben Solo."

"So, what was Kylo Ren?"

"A mistake… one that I will never repeat. I’m breaking my family's cycle of mistakes."

Finn could sense Ben’s feelings. All of the suffering he had endured and wrought. He remembered his own childhood… or lack thereof and felt for the dark knight.

“You and me both, Ben. You and me both.”

They sat together in the ship just relaxing into their seats and waiting for their destination.


	4. Rey Meets the Prince of Alderaan

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rey meets "Kylo Ren" for the first time! It gets funny guys, these next two chapters will be funny. Also, Ben is more like his father than he thinks ;)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you again for all the support! I'm really enjoying having this fic to take my mind off of quarantine and school work. This will be the last update until next week. I will be doing weekly updates (Friday) from now on since I have so many papers to write for school. If I find that I can update more than once a week, you bet your ass I will ;)
> 
> Also, this chapter includes the scene from @musenilla (twitter and insta)'s artwork! Get ready!

When Rey arrived on Naboo, she took in the beauty of her surroundings. Growing up on a sand planet gave her an appreciation for greenery. Breathing in the clean air, she stepped off the opening platform of her ship. 

She moved swiftly, searching through the crowd for any sign of the dark sith lord. As she got further into the capital of Naboo, she felt drawn to the tomb of Padmé Amidala. Surely Kylo Ren would want to visit his grandmother if he was still here. As she peered into the site of her tomb, she saw a gorgeous stained glass window depicting her surrounded by white flowers with a blue and green background. She was beautiful, but Rey didn't have time for sightseeing. She searched her surroundings and saw a tall man in a black cloak swiftly leaving the area. 

"Found him," Rey whispered to herself, smirking at how stupid this man must be to be in such plain sight.

Rey stalked far behind him so as not to alert him. She watched as he walked into the city square, assumingly to try to get lost in the crowd but she had an odd hyper fixation on him. The man walked so swiftly she almost couldn't keep up without running. He quickly turned a corner making a b-line for the forest which surrounded the city, disappearing into the greenery. She stood for a moment feeling something pulling her to him… some sort of outside force. It almost made her run and blow her cover. When she composed herself and entered the forest calmly, scanning the trees for any sign of movement. She knew the direction the man went and trotted silently through the brush, hand on her stunner. She came across a large old tree which created a fork in the path. Just as she was about to go right, she heard a voice.

"A Mandalorian?" said the low foreboding voice above her, "Snoke must really want me back, huh?"

"Show yourself. I will not be patronized by you," Rey snipped, pulling her gun out to take him down if necessary. 

A loud thump sound from behind her and she swiftly turned to face the man who was now crouching down and looking up at her.

"Hello there," Ben smirked, standing to his full height and igniting his lightsaber.

_ Fuck. He’s handsome.  _

“Kylo Ren,” Rey said in a low voice, puffing out her chest to appear larger. They looked at each other for a moment. The feeling of some sort of connection stringing them together. 

It was Ben who stepped forward first, disengaging his saber “Wait, do I know you?” he said as he reached out a hand to Rey. She panicked, pointing and shooting him square in the chest. 

Ben dropped like a ragdoll on the forest floor, and Rey stood there, staring at the fallen man in front of her.

“Well, at least I can cuff him,” she whispered to herself. 

As she approached him, she kept her stun gun pointed at him just in case he woke back up. As she got closer, she watched his chest move up and down with each breath. She slowly pulled her cuffs from their place on her belt and ever so carefully placed her hand over Kylo’s much larger one. As soon as her shaking fingertips grazed Kylo she felt what she could only describe as electricity run through her. She jumped in place feeling her entire body vibrate from the connection. 

“Kriff! This is ridiculous. Of all the creatures of the galaxy,” Rey took a firm grip of Kylo’s writs, snapping the cuffs on in a huff, “I will not get my feelings wrapped into this....”

Finishing cuffing Kylo, she moved him to lean on a rock until he woke again so they could leave this planet. 

As the sun went down, Rey realized she would most likely be spending the night in the forest. She gathered up firewood and started the fire. While doing this she attempted to make contact with Dorvin but to no avail. 

“Strange… he always answers back quickly,” she whispered. Nevertheless, she set the coordinates back to his planet and checked on Kylo. He was still sound asleep. His face looked… peaceful and calm. 

“You definitely don’t look like a frightening force user, that's for sure,” Rey chuckled to herself. She looked at him for a few moments before moving a strand of his raven black hair out of his face. That same pull was still there but less strong. She reached down to grab his lightsaber which was still gripped in his hand. It was heavier than she expected and a very different shape than she had seen before with other Jedi. The crossguards were intriguing, but something felt… dark about this weapon. She ignited the sword to understand the weapon better. Being ignited further initiated the feeling of darkness. It felt as though the core of the weapon was corrupted. Like a piece of someone’s soul was destroyed creating it. The bright red shined into her eyes and lifting it up, it felt hot against her mask. 

“Fascinating,” she said to herself, disengaging the weapon, and placing it in her pack. 

Before the sun went down completely, Rey ate some leftover portions from her pack for dinner. When the sun finally went down, she felt tired from the long day of flying and all the activity. She cuffed the large man’s legs before she laid down on the forest floor to rest her eyes, keeping her ears sharp to make sure Kylo Ren did not try to attack her as she slept. She supposed he would sleep through the night. That thought eased her into a light but restful sleep.

*

Ben woke at dawn, peaking at the sun rising into the beautiful Naboo sky. It would have been an amazing sight had he not been bound at the hands and feet. He looked over to see the Mandalorian woman who had stunned him. She was rather small but also shrouded in Beskar armor which was dented and damaged, assumingly from her other missions. She was facing him with her helmet still on as she slept. He wondered if that was comfortable because his former helmet surely wasn't. He knew little about the Mandalorian ways of life, but he did know what his father had told them. 

_ “It's an old religion like the Jedi except instead of lightsabers, they have to keep their helmets on, or maybe that's just a sect of them. I don’t remember, their history is confusing.” _

Ben chuckled softly as the memory faded from his mind and he focused on how to get out of the bind he got himself into. Ben felt the connection to the woman strongly as she slept. It seemed to fluctuate in and out but right now, she was strong with the force. He thought about intruding on her thoughts but vowed against it because it would be an invasion of her privacy.

"No more Darkside," he told himself, "well…" he chuckled using the force to unlock the binds around his feet, "for the most part anyway."

"Excuse me," Rey shot up onto her feet, pulling her staff off her pack to point it at him, "where the fuck do you think you're going?"

Ben paused for a moment thinking of what to say as he looked up at her. She looked strong and capable above him. If this weren't a mission to get him back to Snoke, he might enjoy this a bit more.

Smirking, Ben leaned forward holding his face in his hands so he would look more innocent, "Oh, I wasn't trying to escape. I just wanted to go make us some breakfast," he smiled widely at her.

Rey was grateful for her mask because without it he would be able to see the slight smile and blush that covered her face.

"Yeah, I’m sure you were,” She started sarcastically, “but that's fine. I need you to be able to walk, so I was going to have to take those off anyway."

"Oh, are you taking me on a walk? You really should buy me dinner first before we get into the kinky stuff," Ben winked at her trying to think of more ways his dad would finesse his way out of things.

As funny as this was, Rey was growing tired of his patronizing attitude.

"You better fix your attitude and get up or I'll knock you out again and drag your ass to my ship," she pulled back her staff to look like she was going to whack him, "Your choice, hotshot"

"No, no, that's quite alright," Ben stood, stretching out his legs, "I'm not really into receiving concussions. Although, I wouldn't mind a shock collar," Ben turned to look to the side while laughing till he felt a sharp smack to his back, making him topple over.

Rey rolled her eyes under her mask and got up to get her bag.

“Hey, can we go where I was hiding out? I need to grab something,” Ben asked, hoping he’d be able to at least get his dad’s dice.

"Fine, but get up and walk, and if you talk again, I'll tell my employer I'll be bringing you in piece by piece. Do you understand me?" Rey said so authoritatively it shut Ben right up. He could not lie, it was kinda hot to be around such an intimidating woman.

*

As Ben and Rey walked back from Ben’s hideout after getting his things, Rey kept trying to get a hold of Dorvin. It was not like him to be gone this long.

"God damn it," Rey said under her breath after calling for the 5th time, "Where is he?"

Ben stopped in his tracks and looked back at Rey, "you okay back there?"

"What did I say about talking?!"

"Alright, alright. You just sound distressed."

As Ben was looking back he saw his saber inside her open pack. Taking this as his chance while she was distracted, he used the force to summon it. Igniting the saber swiftly, he used the crossguards to slice between the cuffs to free his hands. 

Rey went into action as soon as he was free. As Ben made the move to run, she knocked him off his feet with the staff. This only slightly disoriented Ben. He pushed her back with the force which sent her flying into the adjacent tree with a thud. She laid there, motionless. Ben began to panic as he rushed over to her.

"Hey, are you okay?" Ben asked, too nervous to touch her, but also scared she might be badly hurt, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to throw you that far!"

Just as Ben was about to take Rey's helmet off, she punched him square in the jaw, and kicked him in the ribs, making him crumble to the forest floor on his stomach. Rey got up, her back still aching and cuffed him again.

As she pulled him up by his hair she said, "Don't try my patience, Ren,” she put him down on a stump to collect her things all over the ground from her pack.

“You know, you should probably take off that helmet so I can make sure you don’t have a concussion.”

“What did I just tell you about patronizing me?!”

(@musenilla on Instagram and Twitter)

“Come on! Help me take these cuffs off and I’ll help you take off that helmet.”

Rey held out her staff, “No, and will you ever shut up?”

“I will if you take it off,” Ben winked before getting whacked in the head.

“Listen here you little shit, I can bring you in warm or I can bring you in cold. Here is what you’re going to do: You’re going to get up, shut up, and walk to my ship so I can get the money for my bounty. Got it?”

Ben nodded slowly, realizing this Mandalorian was not one to be trifled with. He would make his escape. For right now, he would do as she asked. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope y'all enjoyed this chapter! As always, feel free to leave any constructive criticism down in the comments. I will see all of your comments and reply!


	5. Where are we going?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ben and Rey getting to know each other. It's a fun time!

“Hey, Miss Mandalorian, can we take a break. My legs are killing me,” Ben asked nervously.

“Yes, that’s fine,” Rey said calmly, trying one last time to get a hold of Dorvin.

Ben sat down on a tree stump, contemplating what he will need to do to getaway. Part of him didn’t want to leave. He felt a strong connection to this aggressive woman. He tried to wrap his brain around it, thinking back to when he may have felt this way before. It felt so familiar. 

“So… Can I get your name? I feel weird just calling you Mandalorian.”

“It’s Rey,” She said shortly.

“Rey of who? Do you have a clan or family name?” 

“It’s just Rey,” She sounds annoyed now, but she seems too tired to get aggressive at the moment, so he presses on. 

“Well… where are you from, just Rey?”

“Jakku,” she huffed even more irritated now, “Didn’t I tell you to be quiet?”

“I'm just curious about you…”

Rey kept tinkering with her communicator as Ben looked at her fondly. 

“Kriffing hell, where the fuck is Dorvin?” Rey exclaimed slamming the communicator on the ground. It broke into pieces. Ben felt the frustration from Rey through the force and wanted nothing more than to hug her and tell her it’s okay.

Ben lifted his hands bringing the pieces into the air.

“Hey! What are you doing?” Rey yelled as the large man wielded his force powers on the shattered communicator.

“You’ll see, sweetheart,” he smirked, putting the pieces together with ease. 

Rey started, flabbergasted at the precision he wielded. It was… intoxicating. 

The final piece snapped together and fell into Ben’s massive hands. He handed it to her with a smile.

“Adequate work,” she said, trying to hide her adoration for his act of kindness.

Just as the communicator landed in her hand it began to beep and light up. Ben smiled at his work, setting his hands back in his lap and smiling up at Rey.

“Rey, I’m sorry I was not in communication. There were some… complications. Have you found the bounty?”

“Yes, he has been detained,” She turned the communicator to show Ben to the holo man.

“Very good, you still need to go to Geonosis. Snoke has told me to meet you there so that we can trade-off and he will fly his ship over to collect him personally.”

Ben gulped at the man’s words.

“Alright, that's not too far away. I should be there in a few hours.”

“Okay, just… watch your back okay? I have a bad feeling about this.”

“You know I always do, Dorvin. I’ll be fine.”

The holo faded out and Rey turned back to Ben. 

“He’s not wrong, Snoke is vicious. If he decides he doesn’t want to pay you, he’ll just dispose of you.”

“I’ll be out of there before he even knows who I am, Ren.”

“Please, Rey. Listen to me. What can I do to help you?”

Rey scrunched her nose under her mask.

“You,” she poked him hard on the shoulder, “All I need you to do is get up and walk to my ship so that I can get paid.”

The energy between them was painful. The amount of dark energy coming from Rey frightened Ben. 

“What do you need the money for?”

“It’s none of your business!” Rey exclaimed, unknowingly sending pieces of her memory through the force of the face of a man giving her to a Mandalorian on Jakku. Ben paused for a moment and realized what was going on.

“You’re looking for your parents…” 

There was a long pause between them; a mutual understanding that he was not supposed to see that.

“Get up and let's go, Now.” Rey turned to walk away. She was, again, grateful her mask covered her as the tears ran down her freckled face.

Ben could feel her pain but decided to just let it be and do as she asked. 

*

When they arrived at the ship, Ben froze in place once he saw it. Rey turned to see what the problem was now and found his look of terror.

“That… was my dad’s old ship,” Ben’s voice trembled.

“I bought it off some asshole in Jakku, charged me my last few credits, but I needed a ship.”

Ben put his head down, “It’s been so many years since I’ve seen it. I’ve missed it...”

The ship platform opened up allowing Rey to go inside, “Why did you leave then if you missed it so much,” she said sarcastically.

“I didn’t have a choice…” Ben whispers making his way into the ship. 

Rey followed him, shutting the door behind her and heading to the cockpit. They stayed silent and separated from each other while Rey took off into the atmosphere. Ben walked around, examining the ship. It looked as if it had been cleaned recently. The padding in the halls was whiter than he remembered and the floor was swept. Han only ever kept up with maintenance when something was malfunctioning. He never saw the ship get a deep cleaning. Memories came flooding back as Ben slid his hand over the compartments above him. 

_ “Come on Leia, he really wants to go with us. It’s just to Kashyyyk to see Chewie’s family, and then Mandalore to see some old friends,” Han said while Chewbacca scooped up little 6-year-old Ben who was coloring outside the falcon. _

_ “The last time you said that you got trapped in a gunfight and then stranded in the middle of dead space with no food or water,” Leia shouted irritably as she walked over to see her son, “Benny-boy, don’t you wanna stay with mama, and go to Coruscant?” _

_ Ben visibly scrunched his nose at the suggestion which made Han chuckle. _

_ “I wanna go wiff Daddy and Uncle Chewie!” Ben said looking up at Chewie and giggling while pulling his hair. _

_ Leia gave Han a death glare before saying, “Okay, but take this,” she handed Ben a communicator, “If anything goes wrong, you are to call me right away, do you understand little one?” _

_ “Yes mama,” he said, taking the device and reaching out to give Leia a hug.  _

_ “I love you, sweetheart,” Leia whispered.  _

_ “I wove you too,” Ben said back, burying his head into the crook of his mom’s neck.  _

Ben’s mind snapped out of his thoughts when the ship jerked so hard he flew into the side and fell to the floor with a thump. 

“What the kriff is going on?!” Ben yelled, getting up to go into the cockpit. 

More turbulence made Ben bounce off the sides of the ship until he finally made it to the cockpit. He could see First Order battleships coming straight for them.

“I don’t know what's going on, they just came out of nowhere!”

“Uncuff me.”

“What? NO!”

“Please, let me help you,” Ben said, looking at her intently as another shot hit the Falcon.

Rey groaned, “Okay,” she uncuffed him swiftly “Now get down to the guns and start taking out these tie fighters!”

“Yes, ma’am,” Ben yelled, running to take out some fighter ships.

Rey maneuvered around and away from the attackers and Ben took them out one by one. One rogue fighter kept staying out of range until Rey finally took off into hyperspace in the other direction of Geonosis. When Ben saw the blue and white streaks, he finally took a breath and ran up to the cockpit to check on Rey.

“Did you call the first order to get me killed?!” Rey asked furiously.

“What? No! What are you talking about?” Ben stumbled backward from the force of her energy and words.

“Then how the hell did they know where we were? I took a wrong turn away from Geonosis and they still found us. We were in dead space!”

“I told you Snoke wasn't to be trusted!” Ben walked forward to look at their coordinates when he felt a cold chill go over him.

**Who’s the girl, Kylo?**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Be sure yo let me know what you think, and if you have any critiques! Thanks for reading!


	6. Dyad on Hoth

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rey and Ben land on Hoth. Anxiety and cuteness ensues.

Ben froze in place and looked up at Rey.

“Move,” he said, simply moving to the pilot seat.

“What the fuck do you think you’re doing?”

**Yes, Ren, what DO you think you’re doing?**

_ Leave us alone. _

“Get out of my seat!” Rey yelled trying to push him out.

**You care about her. Why?**

_ None of your fucking business. _

“Do you have a death wish?!” Rey screamed, reaching for her stunner. 

**Ah, I understand now… She is your other half. You’re a Dyad in the force. Excellent, an even better find.**

Ben felt anxiety well up in his chest until he couldn’t hold it in anymore.

“NO!!!!” Ben screamed just as he diverted from hyperspace to Hoth. Rey set down the stunner when she also felt the cold chill run over her.

**I’ll find you Ren, and your soulmate too.**

Ben and Rey sat there for a moment in shock as Ben concentrated all his efforts into landing the ship safely. Rey still felt the darkness within her, but took a seat to compose herself.

“What the hell was that?”

“It was Snoke. Rey, we’re in great danger, we need to hide-”

“I don’t want anything to do with this!” Rey said running to the back of the ship.

Once he landed, Ben followed after her, running out into the snow to catch her.

“Wait, It’s gonna be okay! I’ve been terrorized by this guy for years, I’m here for you. Like he said… we’re soulmates, a dyad in the force.”

“I’m not a Jedi! And I don’t know what a fucking ‘dyad in the force’ is!”

“Neither am I. It just means you’re force sensitive,” Ben stepped closer to Rey, “Here, give me your hand.”

Rey felt conflicted. Her whole being was telling her to trust this man she didn’t know anything about other than some family history and his inclination to the dark side. Whatever that meant. She never felt this way before and it was disorienting. She also took an oath to the Mandalore to honor her clan and remain concealed.

“How do I know I can trust you? I don’t know you, and you don’t know me.”

“Look over there,” Ben pointed to the old Rebel’s base, “My mom, dad, and uncle all lead the rebel base here and helped with the battle of Hoth,” Ben turned to point out into the snowfield, “Over there, my uncle used some beat-up old fighter ships to trip the AT-ATs.”

“What’s your point?”

“My point is I’ll tell you anything you want to know. I’m tired of hiding everything away. For my entire life, I’ve buried all my emotions and inner turmoil. I’m done.”

It was an intense moment. Ben held out his hand, “Please, just work with me. I’ll help you find your parents. I’ll do whatever I can to help you and if by the time you're done and you want to turn me in, that’s fine.”

“You have to understand this is very intense. I don’t know what to do.”

“Give me your hand,” Ben said, softening his eyes to make her feel calmer.

Rey’s heart skipped a beat as she removed her glove and slowly and moved her hand to Ben's. When their fingers finally touched, Rey saw a vivid vision, so clearly, it was as if she was there. 

_ Ben was running with her in a field on Naboo. They were laughing and trying to catch each other. It was a beautiful day with the clearest blue sky she had ever seen and the flowers were in full bloom. Her helmet was nowhere to be seen, so her long brown hair was flowing in the wind. It made her look so young and youthful which is something she had never felt in her life.  _

_ “Rey, wait up!” Ben yelled laughing as he made his way through the tall grass and flowers. _

_ Rey began to giggle as she ran faster looking behind her at Ben teasingly. Rey had never giggled once in her life and here she was: giggling and smiling like she was the most carefree person in the whole galaxy. The envy she felt for this version of herself was immense. _

“Rey!” Ben shouted trying to get her to snap out of her trance. When she finally came back to reality, she looked up at him and then fled into the snow. 

“Wait! Don’t run, please!” Ben yelled, running after her.

Rey’s mind was racing. Everything she ever knew about herself was being shattered by this undeniably handsome man who she was supposed to turn over to Snoke. Her heart was racing and all she could think about was running to hide. It was an old instinct from her adolescence. She entered the old rebel’s base, needing to stop to catch her breath because the air was so thin from the cold. When Ben finally caught up to her in the base, Rey’s heart raced faster.

“Rey, It’s okay, I’m not gonna hurt you. You’re getting too cold and the air here is too thin to be working yourself up.”

“What,” she huffed trying to catch her breath, “was that?” huff, “I don’t understand.”

“Sit down and I’ll try to explain,” Ben said calmly, holding his arms out to show her where she can sit.

Rey slowly walked over and sat on the stairs putting her arms around herself to calm her nerves. Ben sat next to her and sighed realizing how tired he also was. There was a long moment where they both caught their breath and just calmed down from what just happened. When Ben could feel that Rey was no longer panicking he started to explain. 

“There is very little known about force dyads. It's been thousands of years since there has been one recorded. What we do know is that it is composed of two force-sensitive beings with a linked soul… or maybe it’s just that they’re made up of one soul. As I said, we don’t know a lot ever since the Jedi temple on Coruscant was destroyed.”

Rey looked up at him and nodded to say she understood.

“I’m sorry I came on so strong. I didn’t mean to scare you.”

“It’s fine… I just can’t do this with you. I took an oath to my clan, and this life is all I’ve ever known.”

Rey looked down again trying to wrap her mind around this connection. 

“You’re not obligated to stay with me…” Ben got up to look outside. It was getting dark and they needed to get somewhere warm quickly before they freeze to death, “We need to get these doors shut.”

He walked over to the middle of the room. The whole base was in a state of disarray so he moved some debris out of the way and was able to find the controls without much complication. 

“I want to take you to my clan on Tatooine. I need to tell them what’s going on so that I can work through what to do,” Rey finally spoke up.

Ben smiled to himself, “Anywhere that isn’t to Snoke, I’m perfectly fine with. Especially if it’s with you,” he smiled at her. This made Rey blush which created a ripple in her force signature. Ben felt it and walked to her as the door closed.

“So… would I be able to see you without your helmet?”

“I don’t take it off for anyone but those in my clan. We’ve kept ourselves hidden since the destruction and civil war of Mandalore. I was a foundling… so I feel like I have to prove myself.” Rey cursed herself for sharing too much.

“I felt the same growing up. My grandfather was the chosen one and Darth Vador. My Uncle ended the war and became the most powerful Jedi of his time. My mother was a Princess then Senator… My dad was a prodigy pilot. I honestly only ever wanted to be a pilot like him…”

“At least you had parents,” Rey said, “I never even knew mine. They gave me off to the Mandalore before I could even know who they were.”

“I’m sorry…” he stepped closer to her, “I know now it wasn’t their fault how I was feeling. Snoke had been in my mind since before I was even born. I don’t remember a time he wasn’t there; lurking, telling me no one loves me or wants me. That I will never make them proud. I’m sure your parents had their reasons to do what they did… My parents sent me off to Jedi training when I was 10 and I never saw them again… until I killed my father.”

Rey flinched at the thought, “Why would you do that?”

“I was manipulated into thinking he never loved me… but before he died, he told me he would always love me… no matter what.”

“Is that why you left?” Rey asked stepping closer to him, feeling the connection grow stronger.

“Yes… I finally realized how wrong I was. All of the lies and gaslighting finally bubbled to the surface in my mind and I had to go.”

Rey reached out her hand to touch Ben’s arm in a way to comfort him, but also to stable herself. All of the emotions from Ben were foreign to her. 

“Why didn’t you just go straight to your mother when you left?”

Ben sighed heavily, “I was too ashamed. I haven’t seen her in almost 20 standard years. I barely even remember her face.”

“Where is she now?” Rey asked, trying to think of what to do for her newfound friend.

“Last I heard, she was on Kashyyyk, but that was a month ago. I know the resistance base has to move all the time to avoid the First Order… to avoid me.”

Rey mulled over her options and then spoke, “Come with me to Tatooine. After we have discussed our situation with my clan, I will take you to Kashyyyk to find your mother. Then I will go to find my family. If you want to come with me, that’s up to you, but you will be a wanted man until you’re dead… or the First Order is dead. Either way.”

“I’ll go with you anywhere, sweetheart,” Ben smirked leaning down to give her a hug. 

“What are you doing?” Rey said, stiffening her body and furrowing her brow under her helmet.

“Giving you a hug. Do you want one?”

Ben pulled his arms back to let her go, scared he was overwhelming her again, but found himself being pulled back down against Rey’s beskar armor which cut into him. He didn’t mind though. Being close to her was a blessing. 

“Yes, please,” Rey whispered.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! I'll see y'all next Friday. A little hint: there will be a twist ;)


	7. A Name’s Significance

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Snoke has other plans for Rey and knows exactly how you get her to join him.
> 
> Also, this is the first chapter that gets a little sexy ;) enjoy!

Snoke sat in his throne room, contemplating what his next move should be. He knew Ben would not come willingly, especially now that he has found his soulmate. He also knew the Resistance was planning another attack on the Order.

The holoprojector lit up in the middle of the room, interrupting Snoke's thoughts.

“Snoke, how are ya? It’s nice to see you again,” Dorvin said through the holo communicator, “I just needed to tell you that your commission will be a bit late. My bounty hunter was chased off to Hoth by some rogue First order ships.”

“Yes, I am quite aware,” Snoke snapped, “Sadly, for you, this means I will need to have him directly delivered to me by this Mandalorian.” 

Dorvin was taken back by this, “But, we agreed that Kylo would be dropped off on Geonosi-.”

“I’m glad you understand my stance, Dorvin. We will be in touch again soon.”

“Wai--”

The holo turned off and Snoke realized what he needed to do…

“I will offer her something she can’t resist, something she will do anything to find: Her family. And then, when I have General Organa’s precious son again, they will plan an attack prematurely… I may be able to wipe out the resistance and acquire a new apprentice,” a deviant smirk spread across his face. He looked over to the man in the room, “General Hux, can I trust you with this mission?"

“Yes, Supreme Leader.” he had an almost psychotic smile on his face, "I will not fail you."

*

As Rey lay next to Ben on the floor of Hoth's last Rebel resistance base, she contemplated what to do. She thought about how they were going to even get to Tatooine because Geonosis was right next to it and she was sure they would be flying right into a trap. 

**Smart girl. You would indeed be flying right into a trap.**

Rey jumped up, grabbing her staff and looked around to find where the voice was coming from **.** She looked down at Ben for a moment to make sure he was okay.

**Calm yourself, Rey, I mean you no harm.**

“Like hell you do, Get out of my head.”

**Now, now, don’t work yourself up. I want to help you.**

“Whatever it is, I don’t want it! Leave us alone.”

There was a pause before Snoke finally spoke again.

**Well, I guess you’ll never know who your parents we-**

“Wait!” Rey said, “How would you know?” 

**I am all-knowing. Do you want to know who they were or not?**

Rey’s blood went cold as she looked down at Ben again.

“What do you want?” her voice shook.

**Bring our little friend to me, and I will give you all of the information you desire.**

Rey paused again, mulling over her options.

“Where do I need to meet you?” 

Rey heard a bone-chilling chuckle rumble through the room.

**I will arrive at your coordinates at dawn, and you will not let Kylo know of this little arrangement. It is a very simple task for such important information.**

“How do I know you won’t force me to stay with you?”

**Here is how I see it. You have something I want, I have something you want. Once we trade, we are free of debt from each other. Isn’t that how you bounty hunters make deals with each other?**

“Well, yes but-”

**Then there is nothing more to discuss. I will see you tomorrow.**

“Wait!” 

It was too late, Snoke was gone. She felt the dark weight of his presence leave and all she could hear now was Ben’s light snoring. She must have been yelling in her own head because he should have woken up from all of the commotion. 

“Damn it,” she dropped down to sit on the floor and ripped her helmet off to cry.

She desperately wanted to know who she was. It’s all she has ever wanted. It’s why she worked so hard for the Manadalor. It’s why she was about to throw her newly found friend to the wolves. A part of her knew she was making a huge mistake, but she needed to know. 

*

Ben woke in the morning next to Rey. She was laying so close that he could feel her body heat radiating off of her. They were both sharing the same frail blanket as well. He smiled down at her until he felt his stomach growl and found that he had a… situation in his trousers. He got up quickly and suddenly realized he had not eaten in two days and got up to try to find some rations. He happened to have his pack on when he got off the ship so he went over and grabbed the last two he had. One for him and one for Rey. Ben mulled over how they were going to get to Tatooine in an attempt to get his mind off Rey as he ate the rations and drank the little water he had left. He failed miserably. 

He reached his hand down to his crotch to reposition his painful erection, trying to think of anything but Rey's soft hand on his. The way she hugged him yesterday. He wanted to see her face so badly. To be able to caress her face and feel her hair which he imagined was soft and silky. He imagined seeing her face as she chastised him for patronizing her. It reminded him of… his mother.

"Oh god, I'm in love with my mom," he groaned to himself. That thought did the trick in ridding him of his issue so he could think clearly. 

Ben rummaged through his bag and found his grandmother's lightsaber. He forgot he even had it, but looked over to Rey and thought of how amazing it would be for her to wield it with him. One day, he hoped to help her build her own saber and train her in the ways of the force. He ignited the saber and it glowed a bright blue. The color brought back so many memories of his own saber when he was a Jedi. He looked down at his new one, remembering the day he corrupted his cyber crystal. It felt as though his soul had died that day, but Rey seemed to be his New Hope. He knew he didn't want to be Kylo Ren anymore but wasn't sure he was really Ben Solo either. He had never really felt like that name fit him… at least until now. 

"Kylo?" Rey croaked with a gruff morning voice "Where did you go?" she lifted her head from the ground where they had slept.

Ben walked over to sit next to her, "I'm right here. I was getting some rations. I only have one left." 

"You're… giving me your last ration?"

"Of course," Ben smiled, "you're already so small, I don't want you to shrivel up and fly away with the wind outside."

Ben laughed so loud, his voice echoed through the abandoned ship dock. His charisma was drawing her in and Rey laughed. She caught herself though, trying not to get attached to him. 

Ben noticed Rey holding herself back, and took the opportunity to show her the saber. He brought it forward and ignited it. He couldn't see her face, but he could feel her excitement at the sight.

"I want you to have this. It was my grandfather's before he became Darth Vader. I'm going to teach you the ways of the force… that is if you let me."

"Kylo-"

"It's Ben, actually."

"Ben?"

"Yes, Ben Solo," he smiled down at her and placed the saber in her hand, using his own to wrap her fingers around the base, "I was named after Obi-wan Kenobi… and I got my dad's last name."

Rey rose to her feet to try wielding the saber. She seemed to be a natural until she swung it around too fast and singed her armor.

"Funny story actually," Ben chuckled, "Solo wasn't even his real last name. He made it up when he went into the stormtrooper program so he could get out of his home planet."

Rey remained silent but listened intently to Ben's story with great interest. He jumped up and used the force to retrieve his own saber and ignited it.

"Would you like to try a dual?" Ben asked softly.

Rey shuddered at his tone and got into her fighting position in response.

"You're not very talkative today," Ben said, slashing down on her saber, beginning the dual.

It was quite obvious Rey was uncomfortable with the new weapon after a few minutes of light dueling. He noticed her posture and stance was off, so he took a moment to disengage his weapon and help.

"Here, let me show you," Ben said, walking behind Rey.

_ Fuck fuck fuck _

He positioned himself against her back pulling back her stiff shoulders. He realized how nervous she was and tried to calm her by massaging her neck muscles.

"Relax Rey," he whispered into her ear from over her helmet.

His fingers slowly worked their magic on her trapezius, making her putty in his hands. She had never felt this kind of intimacy in her life. She leaned against his wide chest as his right hand made its way down to straighten her posture. 

"Hold up your saber," he said firmly. It was his turn to be authoritative. She obliged and helped it up with his instructions. He looped his arms around to position hers and then moved them down to her waist. For some reason unknown to Rey, the moment his hands reached her waisted, she felt her mouth go dry and between her thighs felt damp. She let out a small whimper as he removed his hands from her.

"Oh," he placed his hands back where they were, "I can stay here if you'd like," he said, tightening his grip on her.

Rey snapped herself out of this trance and kicked him back with her foot and pointed the saber down at him. His face was flushed and so was hers. They stayed in this position for a moment until Ben conceded and got up.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable, I'll just-"

"No, wait!" Rey disengaged the saber and walked over to him, "you didn't make me uncomfortable… I just-"

"What is it? I won't make you do anything you don't want to," Ben placed one hand on her mask, wishing it were her face.

"Ben... I-"

Just as she was about to tell him everything about Smoke's plan, an explosion went off behind them and sent them souring in the air to the other side of the platform.

"There they are! Get them!"

“Wait, don’t!” Rey yelled as the troopers took down Ben.

She saw who she assumed was Snoke walking into the base. He looked at Ben as he was beaten down the ground and shocked into submission. A ginger officer stepped in front of the troopers and spoke.

“Ah, Ren. You just had to make all this fuss didn’t you,” he kicked Ben in the face making him crumble to the ground and hold his nose as it bled.

“Please stop! Don’t hurt him!” Rey attempted to stop the troopers and general from hitting Ben again.

Snoke made a motion with his hand which prompted them to stop their attack on Ben.

“That is quite enough, General Hux.”

“Yes, Supreme Leader,” the evil-looking man said, straightening his posture and looking at Rey with disgust.

“Rey, my girl, you’ve done as I asked,” Snoke announced triumphantly, “You will be rewarded greatly.”

“What?!” Ben yelled from behind them. Rey avoided eye contact with him as he continued, “I trusted you, how could you?” Ben struggled to stand, but fell to his knees as the blood kept rushing out of his nose, “Rey, look at me!” 

“Quite!” Snoke hissed walking Rey back to his ship, “You made the right decision, young Rey. You don’t even know him.” he places a vainly sympathetic hand on her shoulder as she looks back at Ben being dragged into another ship, “This is a small sacrifice to find your family.”

His hand moved to her back and led her up the platform. She felt the pang of pain from Ben’s side of their bond which caused tears to fall from her eyes. 

**_You’ve broken my heart. What did I do wrong?_ **

Rey froze where she stood and felt all the pain and darkness pour into her body from Ben.

_ I’m sorry Ben. I had to. He knows my family. I couldn’t say no. _

She forced Ben out of her head and locked him out before he could argue. It was too painful.

“I did what I had to do.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter! Let me know what you think in the comments!


	8. Butterfly 13 (B13)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Finn, Poe, and Rose: the true trio  
> Ben and Rey: a hard discussion

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The chapter gets a little angsty, just a fair warning! I have a little bit of a different perspective for you in this one. ;) hope you like it!

Finn ignited his green saber in the middle of the Kashyyyk swamp. He had been practicing his skills with Leia for the past month but decided to go off on his own for the day. The general was too busy planning their next attack on the First Order and he needed to get his daily practice and meditation in. He swung his saber to and fro, slashing down invisible opponents. As his mind drifted he felt a tremor in the force. It was dark and mischievous, and then there was sorrow… Finn closed his eyes and visualized it as a blue butterfly with a broken wing. The feeling faded slowly and he could breathe again. He immediately ran straight for Leia to tell her what he saw. 

Poe Dameron stood in front of the conference room waiting for Leia to finish her call with a second rebel base on Polis Massa. He was just about to come back later when Finn rushed in with a determined look on his face. 

“Whoa there, buddy! The General is in a meeting right now.”

“Poe, I need to see her immediately.”

“I’m sure whatever it is, it can wait,” Poe put his hand on Finn’s shoulder to lead him away.

“No, This can’t wait. It's Jedi stuff,” Fin said out of breath trying to push past Poe.

“If you go in there right now, you’ll be cleaning out the freshers for a week.”

Before Finn could open the door Leia emerged from the door. 

“Dameron, why is it always you making all the fuss around he-”

As soon as Leia saw Finn she had the look of urgency in her eyes.

“You felt it too?” 

“Yes," Finn stepped next to Leia, "but I saw something too. A blue butterfly, it was so sad, and its wing was broken.”

“Ben,” Leia whispered, her face becoming panicked, “He’s in trouble.”

“We need to speed up the attack, Snoke’s probably got him and we have their coordinates!”

“No,” Leia dismissed walking down the hall to the commander room, “That's what Snoke is planning. It will be a trap.”

“But he’ll kill him!” Finn yelled looking over to Poe for support.

“We could do it, Leia, I’ve been itching to fight again, come on-”

“No!” Leia turned to the two men, “I will not send you on another suicide mission!”

“But they’ll kill Ben!” 

There was a pause. Leia turned to her side, a single tear shed down her cheek.

“I won’t do it… I’m sorry,” she said as she walked into the command room, closing the door softly behind her.

The two men stood for a moment before looking at each other. 

“Rose?” They both said together, “Rose.”

*

Ben stood in his cell thinking of all the ways he might be able to escape which were all coming up short. Agitated, he punched the wall as hard as he could.

“Fuck.” 

Sliding back down the floor with a thump, he put his head in his hands and the tears began to run down his cheeks. Before he could start sobbing the sound of doors opening brought him back to his senses and stood up.

“You have 5 minutes to talk to him, Mandalore. Make them count.”

“Yes… that’s fine.”

Ben saw the door open and Rey steps into the cell. They stood there for a moment just looking at each other. Ben gave her the most frightening face she had ever seen before speaking.

“How could you?” he demanded, clenching his fist.

“I told you… He knows who my parents are. I have a chance to know who I am, Ben.”

“You already know who you are!” Ben yelled, “You don’t need them!”

“You don't get it,” Rey turned to walk away.

“Come on, why can’t you just let this go?”

“YOU HAD PARENTS!” Rey screamed accidentally pushing Ben back into the wall with the force, “You’ve always had a family. I’ve always been the orphan, the unwanted waste of space in this shit-hole universe!”

Ben was taken back by this abrupt display of emotion. Her voice was shaky like she could burst into tears under her helmet. 

“You could have had a family… Not just with me. My mom would have accepted you. The whole of the resistance would have loved to have you.”

“Oh, I’m sure. A bounty hunter who's probably turned more than one of their fighters over to the First Order. Or don’t you remember that?” Rey’s voice was lowered dangerously.

“Let the past die,” Ben said through the tears in his eyes, “Everything before now, the years of anguish for both of us. Fuck it all! It doesn’t matter anymore!” Ben pleaded on his knees taking her hands in his. 

_ Runaway with me, Rey. _

“Your time is up. Let's go!” The guard says behind Rey. 

Rey drops Ben’s hands, “I’m sorry, Ben… I can’t.” She walked away without looking back.

  
  


*

“Absolutely not!” Rose explained.

“Come on, Rosy. We’ve gotta do something for him!”

“How many times have I told you not to call me that?” Rose walked over to the shipment platform, checking her list to make sure everything was coming in that they needed, “Also,” she turned to face Finn and Poe, “Do you remember what happened the last time we did a secret mission? You,” pointing at Poe, “Nearly crashed our ship into a mountain on Ach-to. And you,” pointing at Finn, “Chopped some kriffen nurfehearders arm off in a casino!”

“I was just starting my training and he tried to attack you!”

“That’s not the point, Finn! The point is, Leia knows what is best and we need to trust her judgment. I mean for kriffs sake, it’s  _ her _ son we’re talking about. This must be killing her inside.”

The two boys hung their heads in shame. 

“So… is that it? Are we just supposed to do nothing?” Poe questioned, “We’re supposed to sit here and let him die, let who know how many more people die? What’s the point of having a resistance if we don’t fucking resist?”

Rose stopped walking and groaned loudly then slumped her shoulders in a sign of defeat.

“Ugh… Okay!” Finn and Poe high fived and did a little dance of excitement, “ _ BUT _ .”

The boys straightened up waiting for the catch to this agreement.

“We need a foolproof plan and a tight-knit team.”

“Already done!” Poe exclaimed, “Just the three of us hideaway in a spice running ship, they “get caught” by the order, we infiltrate the ship and Finn will lead us wherever Ben is!”

“There are way too many holes in that plan. How are we supposed to not get caught when they search the ship for more living life forms?”

“Well,” Poe smirked at Finn, “We have a way to solve that. BB-8!”

BB-8 zoomed into the center of the group and projected a panel showing a carbonite chamber.

“Why are you showing me carbonite?”

“Because we are going to be frozen in carbonite while being captured and searched. Then, when we’re in the clear, BB here will unfreeze us and we’re free to go! We even have three trooper uniforms to blend in!

Rose scrunched up her nose in thought, “Well who’s gonna actually get caught with the spice, and do we even have a ship?”

“We’ve got both,” Finn smiled, “the other day, this guy tried to capture us but we got the upper hand, and he’s been in our cell waiting to enact this plan. We even still have his ship!”

Rose huffed, seeing that their plan was actually doable. 

“Where is the ship?”

“Out next to the Dark Forest.” 

“Fine,” Rose said in defeat, “But just in case,” she handed out communicators to each of them, “If anything goes wrong, we call General Organa IMMEDIATELY and turn back. Understand, Dameron?”

“What? Why are you just talking to me? This was Finn’s idea too!” 

Rose rolled her eyes and walked into the next aisle of supplies, “We leave at dark. Meet me in my quarters, I have an exhaust pipe we can leave out of without being caught.”

Finn and Poe hugged excitedly, jumping up and down.

“So what is this mission going to be called?” Rose asked.

Finn looked at Poe thoughtfully, “B13, Butterfly 13.”

Finn smiled, running off hand in hand with Poe to get their packs ready. Rose stood there for a moment before laughing and checking other things off her list.

“What a bunch of morons.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! I hope you enjoyed! Let me know how you're doing down in the comments. I know quarantine is really tough right now.


	9. Announcement

Hey, guys. I'm really sorry to say that there will be no update this week... My childhood cat, Onyx, died Wednesday night, and I just haven't been in the headspace to write. The chapter is almost done, but I don't want to post subpar work when I know I can do better. I will be updating next week and I might update twice just to make up for this. Again, I'm so sorry. I hope y'all had a better week than me. Also, I will be okay... Grieving is just hard to go through, especially right now.


	10. Ulterior motives

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Snoke has great plans for Rey. The Trio is ready to throw a wrench in them though ;)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi all! I'm sorry for the disappointing last week, but I am back! I will be posting a chapter today and tomorrow, so get ready! ;)

As Rey walked through the ship with Snoke, she grew more and more anxious about her decision. Snoke sensed this and immediately put his plan into action.

“Listen, Supreme Leader sir, I would just like to get my information, and go. I held up my end of the deal.”

“Whoa now, Rey. Slow down. You’re my guest! Let me get you something to eat, give you a bed to rest, and a newer… better ship than that scrap metal,” He smiled nicely down to her, "And please, call me Snoke."

Rey looked down shyly and was about to protest when her stomach rumbled making her consead.

“Alright, but just one night. I want to be gone and on my way in the morning.”

“That can be arranged, but first, let’s eat.”

*

“Finn, Rose's quarters are this way, where are you going?"

"Oh, sorry, I've been here a month and I still can't figure out the layout of this place."

"You certainly find my quarters just fine," Poe chuckled.

Finn looked back at Poe and smiled shyly. There was a silence between them until Poe spoke again.

"You don't have to be so shy Finn," Poe caressed Finn's lower back, "we're in this together."

"I'm just scared we won't be able to get to Ben in time."

"We will. I promise," Poe moves his right hand to hold Finn's face. It comforted him.

They stood there for a moment, eyes locked. As they leaned in, Rose opened her door.

"Aw, that's really cute guys. Normally I wouldn't interrupt, but we have a mission to attend to," she whispered, beckoning them into her room.

The two boys snapped out of their haze and ran to Rose. 

"Alright, have you all got everything you need? I brought extra protection in case we need it,' Rose pointed to her desk, which had a wide range of blasters and other weapons.

"Holy maker, Rose, you have a whole arsenal!"

"I'm a small woman, I need some help sometimes."

The trio set up their packs with extra weapons. Even Finn grabbed an extra blaster just in case he lost his saber.

"Oh, by the way. Since you two didn't think of Carbonite sickness," she held out some pills for them to take, "once we get out, take this and we avoid any complications."

"You're amazing, Rose. That's why we came to you!" Finn explained.

Rose laughed to herself, "So, where's our prisoner?" 

"On the lower level, we should be able to get to him once we get out of the building and over the right side."

"I'll let you two lead the way. I have the coordinates set for the First Order ships. They haven't even bugged since we last checked."

“That’s strange,” Poe said climbing into the pipe, helping Finn up, “They must really be waiting for us, huh?”

“Let’s hope we really will be undetected,” Rose breathed out nervously. 

As they made their way through the pipes, Finn sensed a disturbance in the force. 

“Wait,” Finn halted Rose and Poe behind him and looked down to see the control room through the vent. Leia was sitting at the head of the table with her head in her hands. They could all hear gentle sobbing from the room. 

“Don’t worry, General. We’ll get your son back,” Finn whispered to himself, soft enough to only be heard by Rose and Poe. 

“Yes we will,” Poe smiled up at him. Poe admired the determination Finn possessed. 

“This is very sweet and all you two, but we need to get moving before she senses Finn and it ruins our escape,” Rose quipped, pushing Poe forward.

The two boys nodded in agreement with each other and continued the trek. When they finally reached the exit, Finn took out his saber and cut their way out.

“I will never get used to you being a Jedi,” Poe said in adoration.

“I’m not a Jedi, Poe. I’m a force user.” Finn corrected chucking.

“Either way, it's amazing,” Poe gave him the biggest heart eyes until Rose chimed in again.

“So, which way is our prisoner?”

“To the left, down by that tree over there.”

The trio walked to their destination. When Poe opened the door, they saw a broken-down man propped up on a wall next to the sink. 

“Alright, Have you learned your lesson yet?”

The man sat there, not even looking up at the now open door he desperately wanted to escape out of earlier. 

“Is he okay?” Rose asked.

“No,” he answered, “I just want to leave, please.”

His eyes were puffy as if he were crying.

“A good friend of mine has been taken by the First Order.”

Finn looked around at Rose and Poe.

“We’re in the same boat. Come with us and we might be able to get your friend while we’re at it.”

“Uh, that was not part of the plan,” Rose interjected, “For all, we know he could be manipulating us.”

“I’m not,” the man stood and took out his communicator, “Here, I have nothing more to hide from you. I’ve dealt with Snoke for the last time.”

“You’ve worked with Snoke?!” Rose yelled pointing her blaster directly in the man’s face.

“Rose, please-” Poe started.

“My sister DIED fighting against the First Order! How dare you-”

“Please-” he reached for the blaster, “I thought it was only business, but… I’ve realized now that I have been used. This is so much bigger than any of us.”

“What do you mean?” Poe asked looking over to Finn.

“My friend, Rey, she was on a bounty to get Kylo Ren back to Snoke, and now she’s been taken by him. I know she is force sensitive. I fear that she will be used by Snoke and become his new apprentice.”

“Ben… he’ll know what to do, but we need to act fast!” Finn exclaimed, taking the man’s hand.

“Uh, hello? This “Rey” is still a traitor and so is he!” 

“You do remember that I was a stormtrooper right?” Finn asked.

“And the person we’re saving was part of the first order?”

“Wait, you’re trying to save Kylo Ren?” Dorvin asked, visibly confused.

“We’ll explain on the way, come on, uh, what's your name?”

“Dorvin. Sen Dorvin.”

“Wait… Sen?” Poe asked.

“Yes, I’ve been working with bounty hunters and-”

“Spice runners?” 

“Yes… Wait, Poe Dameron?” 

Poe’s face went white with shock.

“I haven't seen you since you joined the… resistance. Wow, this really is a small galaxy,” Dorvin chuckled.

“You were a spice runner?” Rose and Finn said at the same time.

“You were a stormtrooper! We just went over this.”

They all looked at each other for a moment and then over to the ship in the distance. 

“This discussion isn’t over,” Rose said, scurrying over to grab Dorvin by the arm and lead him to the ship. 

“She’s gonna be the death of both of us,” Poe said, putting his hand on Finn’s shoulder.

“I hope we’ll be able to get to Ben in time…'' Finn whispered, watching Rose in the distance. 

“We will,” Poe smiles, “We’ll get through this,” he takes Finn’s hand, “together.”

  
  


*

Rey sat awkwardly at the table across from Snoke, stirring her food as the intimidating Leader of the First Order stared at her intently. 

“If you would be more comfortable, you are welcome to eat in your quarters. I wouldn’t want to make you disrespect your clan.”

Rey was grateful for the understanding, but still very on edge by the energy coming from Snoke. 

“So, Rey, how long have you known you are force sensitive?”

Rey thought for a moment before answering, “I’d never noticed until meeting Be-Kylo Ren.”

“I see.” Snoke rose to his full height, “You have raw power which you’re little friend, “Ben Solo”, could never come close.”

Rey gulped at his words. They were soft but pointed at the same time.

“I could sense his plan. He was going to kill you and obtain your power.”

“That seems absurd. I’ve never even held a lightsaber, why would he-”

“Don’t you know, dear one? He is known all over the galaxy as the Jedi Killer.”

Rey paused, remembering the rumors even on Jakku. 

“I wanted to contain him before he got out of control. He’s too much like his father to be trusted. I wanted to save you from former force users' fate at his wretched hands. Surely you must understand, I am not your enemy.”

Rey kept her silence for a moment before finally speaking, “but he was so kind to me… aren't we a ‘dyad in the force’?”

“He is handsome, even charming at times. It’s what he uses to draw you in and then strike like the serpent he truly is. He wanted to take all of the power from your bond for himself and kill me for the throne,” Snoke’s voice was grandiose. Rey didn’t know how to feel about everything he was saying.

“This is all a lot to take in, your highness…”

“I understand… but you are in good hands. I only wish to help you. To guide you.”

Rey felt lulled by Snoke. He seemed to have her best interest at heart. What did she  _ really _ know about Ben? Then again, she doesn't know Snoke either. This was all so confusing and all she could think about was how dizzy and tired she felt. 

“Why don't you go off to your quarters, I will have my men get you in the morning for our final meeting… that is if you wish to still leave.”

“I wish to find my parents which you still haven't told me ab-”

“In due time,” Snoke interrupts, “I only say if you still wish to leave because… I would like you to be my new apprentice, Rey.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading! I appreciate you guys soooo much! <3


	11. Saving Ben Solo 2.0

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The trio and Dorvin are ready to go, Ben gets a visitor, and Rey finally realizes the error of her ways. 
> 
> TRIGGER WARNING: suicide is mentioned!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the last chapter I will post for this week, but fear not! I will be posting on schedule next week and from now on! Thank you so much for being so kind to me during my time of grieving.

"So, when we get to the First Order command ship, BB-8 needs to stay hidden away. You must make sure that the troopers don’t find him. They will only care about getting you, but they will definitely take the droid for spare parts,” Fin explained.

“That can be done, Captain,” Dorvin chuckled, “Is there anything else before we take off?”

“Yes, actually,” Rose spoke up, “If we can’t get your- er- Rey out... You have to understand that as soon as The First Order figures out we are there, we will have to get out. As known resistance fighters, we will be executed on sight if captured. If you aren't ready to go by the time we get Ben on the Ship, we _will_ leave without you. This isn’t a game.”

Rose’s stare was intense and it bore into Dorvin, making him profuse slightly. She was very intimidating for being such a small woman. 

“I understand,” Dorvin sighed, looking down at his worn boots.

“Are you su-”

“I think the man understands, Rose. This is hard for everyone,” Poe interrupted, leading Dorvin to the cockpit. 

Rose sighed, turning to the Carbonite containment area, followed closely by Finn.

“Why do you have to be so difficult?” 

Rose scoffed, “Do you understand that this is our one shot to get Ben back?" she drops her voice and continues, "If this fails he dies and so do we... I don’t know how you can trust so easily.”

“You remember I have the force right? I can sense things.”

Rose gave him an annoyed look, “You are still in training, and you can’t sense everything, Finn,” there was a brief pause where Rose sat down and sighed, “For all of our sake, I just hope you’re right and we can trust him.”

“We’ll be okay, Rosy,” Finn placed his hand on her shoulder to comfort her.

Rose leaned into her friend for support. She was a natural leader but it was draining on her. She often felt in over her head, but that came with being the assistant general she supposed. Her mind drifted to her sister, the last time she ever saw her.

**_“Come on sis, I’ll come back, I promise! We’re gonna win this thing!”_ **

**_“How do you know?”_ **

**_“Because we still have hope.”_ **

“Alright, guys. It’s carbonite time!” Poe exclaimed, running down to Finn and Rose.

  
  


*

Ben sat, listening to the slight buzzing of the cell door. He should have known he couldn't trust a stranger like Rey, but… the force brought them together. Surely that must mean something. He could feel the beginnings of a headache behind his eyes from lack of rest. He got up to go to his cot to sleep until his inevitable execution or possible escape. Either way, he supposed at this point. When he stood, he felt a ripple in the force. A soft and familiar force signature.

“Mama?” Ben reverted back to a childlike state.

“Yes, Ben. It’s me.” Leia whispered, “I’m here.”

Ben closed his eyes and felt the tears welling up in his eyes, “I’m so sorry… I should have come straight to you when I had the cha-”

“You weren’t ready, I understand, sweetheart. It’s okay.”

“I … I love you… I’ve always loved you. Even in my darkest times, I could never let go of you.”

“I know. I love you too. I’ve never given up hope on you.”

Ben laid on his bed and just before he was about to go to sleep-

“Stay alive as long as you can, keep them distracted. I won’t let them take you from me again.”

“I will. I will do as much as I can.”

“The force will be with you…”

“Always,” Ben finishes, drifting off to a peaceful sleep.

*

Rey sat, flabbergasted at the suggestion Snoke had just brought up. He sensed her unease and manipulated his way around it.

“It’s only a suggestion, Rey. You don’t have to answer now, but it would be an honor to teach you the ways… of the dark side.”

Rey contemplated the suggestion, and the tone of Snoke’s suggestion was very appealing. She had never felt like she was worth much in her day to day life. Her clan was kind to her, but they were cold and distant. It was the Mandalore way. After years of feeling unwanted or like she was a burden, it was nice to seem desired and honored. 

“I will... think about it,” Rey answered softly.

“Please,” Snoke gestured to two troopers to his left, “Take your leave. I don’t expect your answer now. We have much to discuss in the morning. Be up by 700 hours, I will have your breakfast and final… task.”

Rey was too tired to protest, so she allowed the troopers to lead her to a room, just down the hallway. When the door opened, the room was so massive it made him take a step back.

“Is this the right one?” she asked the trooper to her right.

“Yes, Snoke wanted you to feel comfortable as his guest.”

“Oh… alright,” Rey stepped sheepishly into the room before turning around, “Thank-” she wanted to thank the troopers, but they were already gone, “you…”

Rey looked around the room some more before closing the door and finally removing her helmet after days of having to keep it on. She sat down, food in hand, at the side of the room. As she ate the still freshly hot meal quietly, she wondered why Snoke was being so kind to her. It seemed almost overboard, but she was grateful. The bed looked comfortable and she hadn’t even seen what the refresher looked like yet. 

She was just about done with the last bit of her meal when she saw a calligraphy set on the desk table by the bed. Never in her many travels had she ever seen a real calligraphy set. The galaxy had practically ridden itself of writing traditionally long ago and it was a rare skill to have, but there it was: Piles of papers, neatly stacked at the corner and filled with writing. 

Rey sat down at the desk to take her armor off and search through the papers. The first page she picked up was slightly crinkled, like it had been scrunched up to throw away. She read the contents of the writing.

**_I hate this place. It's always dark and I never see living organisms other than the troopers unless I'm on a mission for Snoke. He doesn't appreciate me. He only uses me. I should kill him. I would be a better ruler… I would bring peace, as my grandfather once did. He underestimates my power. It will be his downfall._ **

**_Kylo Ren_ **

The writing was stringent, but out of form. It chilled her to the bone. Maybe Snoke was right… all he wanted was power. She decided to read more of these diary-type entries.

**_An entire village was killed on my command. The power I wield is intoxicating-_ ** __

_ I killed those people _

_ I killed those people for no reason _

_ For no reason other than that I could. _

**_I'm the monster they always said I would become… At least I lived up to some expectations._ **

**_Kylo ren_** _Ben_

Horrified by what she was reading, but took note of the change in handwriting in-between. Every page had the same struggle between Ben and Kylo. There were stories of destroying resistance ships and wondering if his mother was on it. Stories about his missions with Snoke where he was physically and emotionally abused. She continued page after page until she found the final strangest page which only contained the handwriting of Ben.

_ I killed my father today… all those years of hating him. They were all wasted. The last thing he said to me was "I love you, always. No matter what". I couldn't even say it back. The last thing he heard before falling into the generator pit was the buzz of my lightsaber in his abdomen. Even then, at my worst point, he told me he loved me...This darkness inside me, this need to be powerful has destroyed my entire life. I hate myself. I want to die. I want this pain to go away. I don't want to be Kylo Ren anymore. I don't want to be Supreme Leader. I just want to be done. Maker, help me. I am a monster. Universe, take me away. It should be me in that pit. Not him. Not anyone but me. _

_ Ben Solo _

Rey felt the tears roll down her cheeks as she read the last words. Everything he told her was written there in his own writing. He wouldn't lie in his own private diary. He wasn't a cold-hearted killer or monster as he described. He was a broken man. A broken man who just needed a friend… his family… someone to love him.

Everything slowly came back to her. All the things Ben did for her, how he treated her. How she felt for him. It all made sense. She must not let Snoke get into her head.

She must save Ben Solo… before it's too late.

She jumps up from her seat and begins to plan her and Ben's escape. She started her plan by hacking into the Supremacy’s information banks to find where the cells were located. She found that they were over on the other wing and it would take getting through an ample amount of security to get in. She had almost lost hope of getting Ben out until she noticed an air duct that led directly to the cell area and it would only take getting past two hallways undetected. Thank the maker, she was small enough to fit, but it would still be tight. As she searched through her pack to take only the essential items, she found Ben’s grandfather's lightsaber at the very bottom of the bag. She picked it up and weighed it in her hands. She felt peace within herself and concluded that that meant she should use it. She clipped it to her belt and put her helmet back on.

“I’m gonna fix this, Ben. I promise.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Leave your Kudos and comments down below to let me know what you think!! Thanks for reading and come back next Friday! <3


	12. Two Rescue Crews

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The trio is on their way to save Ben and the Dyad are facing off with Snoke.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've been having such a great time making this fic. I wrote fics when I was in my early teens and being able to come back to it and get lost on my own world has honestly been to therapeutic for me. Thank you so much for all your support so far!
> 
> Edit: I'm sorry, there isn't any art in this chapter, there will be in the next chapter!

“Are you guys ready?” Dorvin asked the trio as they stood in the carbonite chamber.

Rose, visibly shaking, shouted, “Just do it!”

“I would just get it done chief. She’s nervous, it's better for her if you just rip off the bandaid,” Poe explained.

“Alright, on the count of three,” Dorvin said.

“One.” Finn flinched out.

“Two,” Rose shivered.

_ Kshh _

Dorvin pressed the button before Poe could finish the count. As he watched his new friends become carbonite sculptures, he felt a pang of anxiety. What if this plan didn’t work and he lost more than just Rey? If he was honest with himself, their success rate was very small, but it was the only way he would be able to help her… assuming she wasn’t taking matters into her own hands. 

“Dear Maker, please don’t do anything stupid, Rey, “ Dorvin groaned to himself, heading to the cockpit to begin his journey into the rancor’s den known as The Supremecy. Also known as the supreme leader Snoke himself’s ship. 

_ “Beep beep boop” _

“Oh, hello droid, you have the directions to the First Order, correct?”

_ “Beeeep” _

“Sorry, BB-8. and excellent. Come with me then.”

BB and Dorvin entered the cockpit and got to work entering the coordinates, and getting the ship ready for hyperdrive. 

“This trip will take about 4 hours,” Dorvin said to himself looking over the root being taken, “and we are guaranteed to get captured with the amount of spice on board.”

_ “Boop beep” _

“Oh, don’t get on a high horse. I needed the money in case something went wrong with Rey and here we are. Rather than getting money though,” he shifts the gears to launch into hyperspace, “We have a great distraction.” 

Blue and white lights lit up in the windows of the cockpit as they blast through space. 

_ “Beep beep” _

“Not that it’s any of your business, but I’ve known Rey since she was a foundling.”

“ _ Beeeep” _

“Well… she and I have worked together since she finished her training. She has always been a go-getter. She always wanted to please her clan, bring back the best bounty, and share the wealth she received.”

There was a brief pause before Dorvin continued, “She has wanted to find her family forever, and this bounty was supposed to give her the freedom to go and search… the only thing is… I don’t think there is anything left to search for.”

  
  


*

Rey snuck her way through the hallways avoiding troopers at every corner until she finally made it to the vent. Just as she was about to slash it open a trooper interrupted her.

"Mandalorian, why are you not in your quarters?"

Rey had to think fast. She remembered a legend that was about Jedi mind tricks. She figured if that didn't work, she'd just stab him and keep going. 

"You will move on and forget I was here," she said, waving her hand in Infront of his mask, willing herself to use the force.

"I… will move on and forget you were here," he repeated, slowly walking away down the other way.

"Damn," Try said, looking down at her hand, "I could get used to that."

Igniting the saber, she slashed the vent open and slid in. It was indeed a tight fit. Most certainly not comfortable for a several kilometer journey. She would not give up though, every inch was closer to saving Ben and getting them both the hell off this ship.

*

"We're here," Dorvin said to BB8, "Go hide, I'll send you the signal once the coast is clear, alright?"

The ship zoomed out of hyperspace and straight into the gravitational pull of the First Order ship. 

"Commander Sen Dorvin, you are being pulled in for violation of holding unauthorized spice. Cease use of your ship and report to the loading dock to be collected for questioning."

The comp said loud and clear. Dorvin could hear his heart beating faster now. He decided not to reply and just follow their instructions, going to the back of the ship.

"Good luck you three. Bring our friends home."

It only took a couple of minutes for the ship to dock and for troopers to swarm the ship. 

"Send Dorvin, do you know that you're wanted in 3 parsecs?" The head trooper asked.

"Heh, I thought it was 5," Dorvin jokes, walking willingly off the ship in cuffs.

When the inspection was done and the coast was clear, BB-8 took the opportunity to pop up out of the floor vent and deactivate the Carbonite. Once deactivated, Rose, Poe, And Finn fell onto the hard metal floor.

"Hey, Rose," Finn croaked out.

"What," she coughed.

"I think there was one thing you actually didn't think about."

"Oh and what might that be," she said as she stood up, dusting herself off and taking the Carbonite sickness pills. Her vision was still a bit blurry.

"We really should have put down some visions to catch our fall," Finn chuckled, helping Poe up and taking the medication as well.

"That would have given us away," Poe laughed.

"True," Finn nodded.

"Alright," Rose whispered, realizing there were still troopers outside, "we need to find a way out and quickly. This is a very time-sensitive mission."

"Right," Poe said, "I say we take the exhaust exit. Finn will lead us to the trooper uniform area so we will blend in, and then the cells are close by right?"

"Yes, we're right in sector C. We just need to take a right out of here and there will be a uniform station right outside. Then we can walk freely down 5 blocks to the Cells. I have to figure out which one Ben is in, but that won't be hard because, you know, the force," Finn giggled, flailing his hands around.

Rose rolled her eyes, pushing the boys out of her way so she could get their exit open. Poe gave Finn a smirk and a boop to the nose before following her. Finn giggled to himself quietly before following them to the exit. 

When they got out onto the platform, Rose went first checking the surroundings to make sure they wouldn’t all get caught at once. The coast was clear so she gave them a hand signal. Poe went out next with a soft thud and helped Finn down into his arms. They had a moment standing together, Rose with her blaster out looking around and Finn holding fast to Poe for stability. Poe took the opportunity to give Finn a peck on the cheek then let go to stand by Rose. Finn smiled, the warmth running to his cheeks for a moment before joining them. 

They treaded lightly through the landing dock, keeping an eye out all around them to avoid being caught. Finn took the lead, walking swiftly between the ships and supplies to get to the door. Before they could get to it, a chrome trooper entered the platform.

“Fuck,” Finn cursed under his breath, “We need to get out over here quickly, it’s Phasma.”

“On it,” Poe whispered, sneaking by the wall and getting past the passageway swiftly and getting directly into the uniform center. Rose and Finn nodded at each other and Finn went next closely followed by Rose. 

“Alright,” Finn whispered, handing Rose and Poe uniforms, “We are sanitation workers, and we’re heading in to clean out the cells and workstation. That is what we say if we are asked. Do not speak unless spoken to, and walk at attention at all times. We will keep to the left and in an upside-down triangle formation. Rose,” Finn addressed, “You will stay behind me and Poe and watch for any abnormal behavior.”

“Got it,” she said, putting on the helmet. 

“Poe, you will stand next to me and be ready to shoot if need be.”

“And you?” Poe asked jokingly.

“Just follow where I go,” Finn placed the helmet on his head, “Let’s do this.”

*

Rey continued to drag her body across the cold surface of the vent. Just as she was about to lay down and quit, she could see that the vent widened up ahead so that she could crawl faster. This meant she was close, but her hands and knees were bruised and aching from all of the excursion through the tight vents. She decided to take a brief break and reach out with the force to make sure Ben was still alive and in his cell. She felt him peacefully sleeping dreaming of… her. 

_ His arms are wrapped around her tentatively as he strokes her back. _

_ “I don’t want you to ever leave,” Ben says inside his own head which could be heard as an echo, “You’re the first person who has ever made me feel this way.” _

_ “Ben?” Rey says out loud still under her helmet. _

_ “Yes?” Ben answers her. _

_ “I’ve decided to stay here… I want to make a family with you.” _

Rey snaps out of Ben's dream in a start, almost blowing her cover because there were two troopers stationed directly under her. 

She continued to crawl again, thinking about what Ben said and what she said in his dream. He wants to make a family with her. While Rey was far from ready to have kids, the idea of companionship with Ben was not alarming to her. It was comforting actually. It was as if the force was humming in agreement with her assessment and feelings. There was still the matter of communicating to her clan their connection, but to her, Ben was her new goal. Even the idea of finding her family was buried away, like a childish wish she should have put away long ago, and Ben had helped her realize that. She wondered if this was what love was but quickly pushed that out of her head. 

“One step at a time, Rey,” she whispered to herself.

As she continued to crawl, she had to be silent. There were multiple troopers patrolling the perimeter of the cells. This was expected, but it was easier to say she would be silent than actually doing it. Her armor chunked against the vent every once in a while when she made a wrong move which made her flinch.

When she finally made it to the end of the vent, she was relieved, but then realized she may have to fight her way in. She remembered the button to turn on the saber and ignited it. The bright light blue calmed her for some reason. It was like this was what she was meant to do.

She slowly and methodically crawled out of the vent and looked around. She saw some cameras which were faced away from her but slowly turned. Before they could catch her she jumped up and slashed them cleanly off with the saber. It was exhilarating, but she wasn’t out of the woods yet. Two troopers came around the corner and began to shoot at her. Her armor took most of the hits until she was finally able to get the hand of blocking. After a couple of seconds, she took out the troopers and sliced their communicators so that more would not come. This would buy her enough time to find Ben and get them both the hell out of there. She walked slowly over to the cell black that she remembered he was. She felt he was close and found him lying in the third cell down. She unlocked the electric door and snuck in. She got to the side of the bed and placed her hands gently on Ben’s arm. He was still peacefully sleeping. 

“Ben…” she whispered, shaking his arm lightly, not wanting to startle this large man.

When he didn’t wake up she shook harder, “Ben,” she said a little louder.

He slowly opened his eyes following the sound of her voice to look over his shoulder. The sight of her gave him a start at first, but because he was still half asleep, he only turned to her and placed his hand on her helmet. 

“Come by to save me, sweetheart,” Ben smiled, rubbing the pad of his thumb over the smooth Beskar. 

Rey felt as though the breath had been knocked out of her lungs and her temperature spiked in her face. 

“Y-yes,” is all she could manage until she shook herself out of his trance, “We need to go, now.”

The urgency in her voice made Ben sit up and take his hand away from her mask. 

“Lead the way,” he said standing to his full height.

As they walked out, they noticed how quiet it was in the cell blocks. No sign of any troopers, everything was far too calm.

“I have a bad feeling about this,” Ben leaned down to whisper in Rey’s ear.

“Me too,” Rey whispered back, “Something’s not right…”

As they turned the last corner, Ben began to feel a sharp pain in his head. All of the horrible memories were flooding back on from an outside source. He screamed in agony, kneeling down as he heard the screaming of his victims which pierced into his head like knives. Rey tried to pry him off the floor but to no avail. 

“ _ Tsk tsk tsk,  _ Oh Rey,” Snoke appeared in front of them, “You made the wrong decision.”

Before Rey could attack him, her vision went to black as she passed out and landed on her soulmate.

Ben, still in immense pain, took Rey in his arms and held her close until Snoke knocked him out as well. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! See you next Friday!


	13. The Sneaky Trio and Two Force Idiots

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The trio is trying to find Ben, but he is already in the throne room with Rey. Chaos, as always, issues.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Art in this chapter was created by the amazing @musenilla on twitter and Instagram! I'm so glad I FINALLY get to use it!

Finn, Poe, and Rose walked through the ship swiftly, making it all the way to the cellblock. When they got there, they hid around the corner to compile their plan for infiltration. 

“We need to take out the security and do it quickly without attracting attention,” Finn whispered.

“On it,” Rose said, pushing her way to the front of the group and stunning the troopers in front of the doors. They didn’t even have time to notice before the poor troopers were down for the count. Rose immediately ran to move them out of the hallway and into the cell block.

“Take out the cameras,” Rose instructed. 

Finn and Poe were stunned by the sudden actions taken by Rose but quickly joined her in the swift pursuit of Ben. The trio took out the cameras, got the knocked troopers out of the hallways and made their way to try to find Ben's cell. As they searched, Finn was more and more unsure of himself. He couldn't sense Ben there at all. He stopped in his tracks when he turned down the last cell block.

“He’s not here…” Finn whispered.

“What?!” Rose yelled.

“What do you mean he’s not here, where would he be otherwise?”

Finn thought for a moment and decided to reach out with the force to make sure his friend was still alive. He could feel that he was still alive, but he was in danger.

“Snoke… Snoke has him, we have to get the throne room before it’s too late!”

“How are we going to do that?” Poe asked.

“I have an idea, “Rose smirked, pointing to the light saber-signed opening of the air vent.

“Let me hack into the main computer and see if that vent leads to the throne room,” Finn said.

Poe walked over to examine the damage.

“Do you think Ben did that?” he asked.

“I don’t know another force wielding lunatics in the galaxy other than Finn and “Ben.” Which, by the way, I know you’re trying to be supportive of your boyfriend and Leia, but Ben is still Kylo. He is a war criminal. I hope you know that we will have to have our guard up until he proves himself actually trustworthy.” 

Poe sighed because he knew Rose was right. The man had torched him to get information after all.

“I know,” Poe admitted, “but can we at least be nice?”

“For now,” Rose said, taking out her blaster to look around the corner, “but remember, that kind of darkness doesn’t leave overnight. He may have helped Finn get out, be we don’t know if that was for his own gain.”

Before Poe could say anything, Finn zoomed into the corridor blaster in hand.

“Go! We need to leave now!” He yelled to them and without a question, they all bolted one by one into the vent. Not 10 seconds after they all got in could they hear what sounded like an entire platoon of troopers marching down the hall. 

“What did you do?” Poe asked.

“Well,” Finn turned, instructing the others to do the same, “When I was looking through the pipelines and seeing what path we needed to take, I noticed there was an inspection team coming, so after I got the info I needed, I tried to stun them fast like Rose did…. But it turns out there was an entire half fleet coming in!”

Rose facepalmed, “So they know we’re here.”

“Technically, they know one person is here. They don’t know we’re part of the resistance. I kept my helmet on.”

Rose sighed and pushed Poe to go faster.

“Just get us to the throne room quickly before they find anything else out.”

*

Rey opened her eyes slowly, unsure of what was going on just yet because of her fatigue, but slowly realized it wasn't good. She felt the panic rise in her chest as she spun her head around to find Ben. He was kneeling next to her, breathing calmly. He was already awake. Rey tried to reach a hand out to touch him but found that she couldn’t move. Some outside force was holding her still. 

“Tsk tsk tsk, Oh little Rey. I tried to give you a chance to choose your true past, but I see now that you will need more… convincing.”

Ben and Rey rose into the air, straight backs and arms strictly at their sides. Ben looked over at her and transmitted his thoughts to her.

_ We need to distract him until my mom gets here. Follow my lead.  _

Rey gave him a knowing look and replied.

_ I trust you. _

They looked forward to seeing Snoke sitting on his throne. His skin was wrinkled and scarred in the bright lights. There were red curtains surrounding the room which gave it an ominous glow. Rey was snapped back into reality by Snoke tossing the two lightsabers to both of them.

“You will duel to see which of you will .”

“And what if we refuse?” Ben sneered.

“Then you will die,” Snoke released them on the final word.

They picked up their respective sabers and looked at each other. 

_ Remember the training we did on Hoth. We’re just training. _

_ Game on  _

Rey smiled under her mask and began her attack. Ben pushed her back slightly with the force.

_ You are a feisty one aren’t you? _

Rey suppressed a laugh and continued her attack. They dueled around the throne room, trying to make it look real. Ben gave instructions to be through their bond and Rey gave snarky comebacks. They were enjoying each other's company until Snoke stopped them. 

“Do you two play me for a fool?”

Ben snapped his head around to look at his old master and smirked.

“Come on old man, do you really think I’m scared of yo-”

Lightning shot through Snoke's fingertips before Ben could finish what he was saying. He dropped to the ground, writhing in pain.

“STOP!” Rey screamed, “Let him go!”

Snoke complied, letting Ben free. He fell into Rey’s arms. She gently moved his hair out of his eyes as he looked up at her with the softest eyes she had ever seen. 

“I should have known you wouldn’t fight each other, you’re too close now. Sad really, Rey. You have such raw natural power. Don’t you want to finally find out who your parents are… at least before I have to destroy you both.”

Rey snapped up to her full height and ignited her saber, “Ben and the resistance are my family now. You were trying to manipulate me, and it won’t work!”

“That’s a shame,” Snake trailed off before reaching his hand out to hit Rey with the lighting, but it was deflected with the flick of her wrist up to block it with her saber. 

“The more you resist, Rey, the worse this will be for the both of you!” 

Reu kept holding her position and looked over to see Ben rise to his feet again. Snoke moved to hit Ben again with the lighting when he ignited his lightsaber and deflected it as well. Ben and Rey moved together to create an X with their swords and pushed forward together Ben used the force to revert the lighting power even more back to Snoke. Just as the dyad thought they were about to lose their grip, they heard the zoom of ships coming in from outside and the clang of helmets falling from behind them. Snoke looked over to see the commotion which gave Ben and Rey the perfect opportunity to slash Snoke directly in the chest. He fell to the floor in a heap, when there was an explosion from the side of the ship that sent Rey flying through the air. 

“Rey!”Ben ran over to get just as Finn, Rose, and Poe dropped from the vent, lading next to their discarded helmets. 

“What just happened?” Poe asked.

“Holy Kriff,” Rose whispered, “General Organa brought the entire fleet!”

“Oh wow…” Finn said looking down at the ground, finding Snoke struck down. He was in shock at the sight and then suddenly looked over to see Ben on the ground with some person on the ground in a heap.

“Ben!”

Ben couldn’t concentrate on anything other than Rey. He could practically feel her pain as he sat her up. Rey was coming back two when he noticed she was bleeding down her neck from her head. 

“I need to take your helmet off,” Ben said, reaching for it. 

“No, Wait!” Rey flinched, grabbing Ben’s arms, “That isn’t the way of the Mandalore.”

“Please,” Ben begged, “You’re bleeding out. You need to take that off Rey…” he looked at her tentatively again, “I’ll help you.”

Rey paused for a moment, looking up into his eyes. She felt peace within her when she finally agreed, coughing.

“Fine,” She whispered, reaching up to meet his hands. They both, slowly and carefully pulled off Rey's helmet to reveal her bloody face. 

(Art from @musenilla on Insta and Twitter!)

"I... um.." Ben stammered like a Solo. 

They looked at each other for a moment. Rey felt as though she was naked in front of him. She was exposed more than she had been in her short 20 years. It was exhilarating though. She instinctively moved to connect her lips to his which took them both by surprise. 

“Uh, Ben. What are you doing?” Finn asked, watching the intimate display as shots were lighting up space behind them. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading! See you next Friday! ,3


	14. Escape and Loss

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rey finally finds out what happened to her parents.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy Friday, friends! Sorry, this is a little late. I've been feeling a lot of writer's block with this story recently, but I'm gonna keep working on it.
> 
> I do have one question for you guys though. Would you guys like to read a modern AU were Rey is basically the personification of cottage core and Ben is super grunge and used to be a drug addict? I've been watching a lot of intervention, and I think Ben in a modern AU would have had an interesting back story. There would be a lot of trigger warnings because of obvious reasons, so be aware of that. It would be a lot more raunchy and messy than this one. Just let me know if y'all are interested!

Dorvin tore his way through the hallways as the troopers rushed to their escape pods. The resistance had arrived and caught Snoke off guard. He thought about where his friends could be because they weren’t in the cell area. Neither were Rey or Ben, so he ran down the hallway straight to the ship. They could be there ready to leave, but that didn’t stop him from checking every room and corridor on the way to the ship to find her. 

*

As their lips disconnected, Rey came back down to reality and realized what she had just done. Ben’s eyes were shocked but in the happiest way. She looked away in shame, seeing the other man next to them. At first, all she could see were the trooper boots which made her flinch until she looked up to see a kind man with dark skin standing over them. 

“Finn, this is Rey… I’ll explain once we get out of here. She’s in no position to walk,” Ben looked down at Rey’s leg which was bent in a way that it definitely should not have been,” You’ll need to cover me. Do we have a ship to get out of here?”

“On it,” Finn pulled out his saber and ignited it, “And yes, we came to save you!”

Ben chuckled, scooping Rey up into his arms, “Hold on to me and stay calm. Your head injuries are pretty serious.”

“Okay,” she whispered holding on to him. She buried her head into his neck to make the room stop spinning. She felt weak and defenseless at this moment which was frustrating. In all her missions, she had never allowed anyone close enough to help her. Even when she was on Naboo and she angered the Junghans enough to get a black to the back that nearly knocked her out. She dragged herself to shore and into an underground bunker to hide away until she was better. She wrapped her body on her own and dragged herself out of the bunker to still get her bounty. 

_ You’re not weak, Rey. If I thought you could walk on your own, trust me, I’d let you. _

Rey smiled at what he said as they ran down the halls to the ship dock. She saw Dorvin turn down the hallway behind them as they were just about to enter the dock.

“Rey!” he yelled, “You’re okay!”

Rey smiled at him, “yeah, of course, how did you get here?”

“I lent my ship to them so that they could get their friend and I came along to try to find you. I’m so sorry I gave you this job… I should have just told you.”

“Told me what?” 

“Okay, you two, we need to get out of here. You can have this discussing when we get to the base,” Rose said, grabbing Dorvin and Ben by the arm and forcing them into the dock. As they walked to the ship, troopers began to shoot at them. Dorvin threw explosives to stop them while Ben ran up the platform to take her into the ship until there was another explosion from outside that made him fall and nearly drop her. Rey looked outside to see Dorvin on the ground.

“Dorvin!” She screamed, standing up and limping down to help him, Ben close behind.

“Rey,” he coughed, blood streaming down his face.

“Get up, we’ve gotta go,” Rey tried to pry him off the floor but her leg was in too much pain to hold herself up, let alone try to lift Dorvin. 

“Rey,” he stopped her, “Your parents,” he coughed again, “I never told you because I knew you would want to find out yourself… but I really messed up with giving you this job.”

“Dorvin, I-”

“Your parents were bounty hunters just like you, but during a raid by inquisitors, they were killed. Their names were Jysell and Tannis Niima. No one in their entire family had the gift of the force, but you. Little did they know, there was an evil person searching for force-sensitive children to manipulate and use… The hunters that killed your parents were trying to get you,” he coughed again. He knew he was dying, but needed her to know everything, “They loved you so much Rey, They fought to keep you safe always,” He pulled out a piece of old charcoal cover paper and handed it to Rey, “Read this when you get back to the base.”

Rey sobbed uncontrollably, “Don’t go! Please, we can still help you!” Rey screamed trying to pick him up again. Ben, having watched their entire interaction, took Rey into his arms and pried her off Dorvin. 

“Rey, you have to let go,” His eyes were teary as well, but he needed to be strong for her.

Ben looked down at Dovin. With his final strength of life, he held out a detonator and said, “Look after her, and cherish her.”

“I will,” Ben took the detonator from Dorvin and they gave each other a final look of respect as Ben ran Rey back into the ship. She kicked and screamed, wanting to go back and save her friend… the family she never knew she had. 

Poe was already ready to fly when Ben got strapped in, still holding on to Rey who was still devastated. As They left, Ben pressed the button of the detonator and watched as that entire half of the ship was destroyed. Rey saw this as well and passed out from her head injuries opening back up and bleeding all over Ben’s lap. 

“Holy shit,” Rose said, grabbing the aid kit from the sidewall, “Lay her on the ground and support her head,” she commanded. Ben obliged of course. 

“General Organa, We have Ben and we are ready to head back to Kashyyyk,” Finn said to the communicator in the other room.

“Excellent work, once you get back, bring him and his friend to me, please.”

“Will do General, may the force be with you.”

“And with you, always.”

As Rose worked on patching up Rey’s head, Finn walked into the room. He b-lined straight to Ben, kneeling down to give him a hug.

“It’s so good to see you man, I was scared Snoke had already killed you.”

Ben chuckled, “Oh that son of a bitch tried. Rey and I took him out… but it was surprisingly easy.”

It was suspiciously easy how that had killed him. Something still felt off in the force, but Ben pushed that aside to concentrate on Rey. 

“Sooo, is she like… your girlfriend?” Finn asked.

Ben smiled and looked at Finn intently, “We are a dyad in the force…” he looked down again, “It’s something that hasn’t been seen in over 1,000 generations.”

“So you two are, like, connected in some way?”

“Our souls are one,” Ben smiles down at Rey’s now clean face. He could now truly admire her beauty. She had patches of freckles on her cheeks and long dark lashes that laid peacefully against her cheeks. Her hair was a mess from all the flailing she did to try to save her friend who was already gone by the time they got on the ship. 

“What’s your name?” Ben asked.

“It’s Rose Tico,” she gave a half-smile but continued her work. 

“Miss Tico, would you happen to have anything I could use to fix Rey’s hair?”

Finn gave Rose a look and she stepped away and came back with a small box.

“If anything is missing from this box, I will hunt you down and skin you with your own light sword,” Rose looked at him with a very serious expression. She reminded him of his mother. 

“Well, I don't want that,” he smirked, opening the box to find a nice brush with the resistance logo Harvard into the wood very meticulously, a couple of elastic bands, some small black pins, and a blue jeweled hairpin in the shape of an Ewok. He decided to just use simple elastics and pins.

As he worked, Finn and Poe flew the ship the full two hours back to Kashyyyk. By the time they were there, Rey’s hair was put into a suitable updo he had seen his mother wear many times in Coruscant during her meetings as a senator. Rey was gradually waking up as the ship finally landed. 

“Dorvin,” she whispered, “we have to save him.”

Ben looked up at Rose who was also looking at him. They gave each other a look of knowing this poor girl had been through a lot today.

“Rey, my name is Rose. I’m with the resistance okay?”

“What happened?” Rey slurred out.

“You got hurt pretty badly in an explosion. You were bleeding from your head and you have a broken leg. I need you to stay calm, okay? You have a bad concussion.”

Rey made to sit up but fell back into Ben’s arms.

“Hold still,” Ben said clearly, so that she would hear, “Rose, could you hold up her leg so that it’s elevated?”

“Yes,” she said sharply, “We’ll take her to the med bay, I’m sure your mother will be there waiting for us. 

They lifted Rey up swiftly and followed the boys into the base and through the corridor to the medical station.

“Dorvin is gone,” Rey said blankly as they laid her on the bed. Her face showed no emotion, “There is an empty space in the force… I can feel it.”

“No one is ever really gone, my dear,” a calming voice said behind Ben. He knew that voice anywhere and turned around slowly to see his mother, standing there in a blue robe and her classic buns. 

Ben stood to his full height in front of her.

“Mom,” he said, simply bending down to hug her before feeling a sharp smack across his face.

“That is for the hell you have put me through for the past 20 years!” She said, anger in her voice, “Why didn’t you come to me? Come to Uncle Luke or your father. Anyone. We love you so much. Your father and I sent you to Uncle Luke so that he could help you.”

Finn, Rose, and Poe backed away and ran out of the room, knowing this was not a conversation they should be present for. Rey laid their half-conscious trying to ask the nurse for some water. 

Ben kneeled down, “Mom, I’m so sorry. I was a horrible son. I know I fucked up majorly. I didn’t know what to say. The voices in my head changed all the time between Vador, to Snoke, to someone else. It was terrifying. They manipulated me into doing things I never wanted to do. I- I didn’t want to kill dad,” He reached out to his Leia and hugged her waist, “I’m so sorry!”

He sobbed uncontrollably into his mother's chest, apologizing over and over again. Leia was no longer angry. How could she be? Her son was home and he knew he was wrong. Now was not the time to push him away, so she wrapped her arms around him and they stayed like that until Ben ran out of tears to cry. 

“Would you like to introduce me to your friend there,” Leia said in a distinctly motherly voice she always used to put on to comfort Ben as a child. 

Ben stood up, cleaned off his face with his hands, and turned his head to look at Rey. She was asleep, hooked up to monitors to make sure her vitals were in check. 

“We performed some quick procedures to fix her leg and skull damage. She needs to rest for the next few days before she can leave this bed,” the nurse explained.

“Very good, Lora. You may take your leave, get some dinner and rest. Today was a good day,” Leia smiled at her.

Once the nurse left, Ben turned back to Leia, “Snoke said Rey and I are a dyad in the force. It hasn’t been seen in 1,000 generations.”

Leia smiled, “I knew you were different from the moment you were born. I always thought it was because you were part Vader… I know I had a part in what happened to you. I should have been there more. Han should have too. We should have never sent you to be with Luke… That’s when I truly lost you.”

“You did what you thought was best at the time… Hindsight is always 20/20,” he smirked down at his mom.

Leia pushed him jokingly laughing at his quip. 

“Well, now that you’re here, I should inform you that we’ll have to keep a close eye on you. Even though I know you are no longer in allegiance with the First Order, the rest of the resistance does not.”

“I understand.”

“You and Rey can share quarters down in high security until you or I can convince them you are loyal to our cause.”

“Oh, we don’t have to-”

“Ben, I’m not an idiot. I can see that you like her.”

“And how can you see that,” Ben laughed putting his hands on his hips…. Just like his dad did. 

“You are your father’s son,” she laughed, “Solo men have the same face when they fall for someone, and you have it. Also, I have only ever seen you do my hair that nicely,” Leia said, stepping forward to get a better look at Rey, “Wait… is she a Mandalorian?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you enjoyed this chapter! Stay safe and much love <3


	15. A moment of silence...

Due to everything happening right now in my country... I couldn't justify writing or updating. I'm really sorry, but with the protests going on, a of my attention has been directed to doing everything I can to get justice for the victims of police brutality and also fixing out fucked up system. 

I would just like to have a moment of silence and contemplation to honor the victims... There are so many names that I have lost count.

If you would like to help, here are some resources:

https://blacklivesmatters.carrd.co/

Again, I'm so sorry for not updating, but this cause is very close to my heart. Being a bisexual woman, I owe the freedom and success I have to the brave queer women of color who fought for my rights at Stone Wall. 

Black lives matter... Always❤️✊🏻


	16. Dreams of Prophecy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rey has a vision but brushes it off to help Ben.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you guys fr being understanding of me taking the week off last week. I am continuing to push the black lives matter movement forward. It is a very important cause and I hope change happens in my country due to it.

Rey was running through a thick forest, dashing side to side away from blaster fire. She didn’t know what planet or star system she was in. All she knew was she was being chased and needed to keep running. 

“Rey.”

An unfamiliar voice took over her thoughts.

“Rey. Stop running.”

She started to feel herself slow down from exhaustion.

“That’s right, accept your new role.”

She turned to see that she was alone. There was no more blaster fire, only an eerie silence.

“Where are you? Who are you?”

“I am your destiny,” the voice was different this time…. It was her own. 

A slender woman with a tight black bodysuit which emphasized her thin waist and long legs. Her hair was down and flowing on her shoulders which made her eyes go directly to the corset holding up her breasts. She was fascinating. It was nothing Rey would ever wear.. Or would she?

“Don’t be afraid of who you are,” she said, stepping forward. Rey 

“NO REY!” a voice screamed from behind her, “Don’t listen to her!”

Ben appeared from behind the trees running to her until she felt a shift in the force. Ben was lifted into the air. He began to gasp for air and painting behind her. When she turned to see what he was pointing at she stumbled backward falling as her world began to spin. She was planted firmly on the surface of a seemingly floating ground. There were large circles that looked like portals in different places in the universe. In the portal at the very end of the floor sat an old decrepit man with a large black hood wish covered his eyes. 

“My new apprentice, come to save me from my exile,” the man removed his hood and everything in Rey sank.

“Stay away from me,” Rey said backing up to run, “You’re dead! You’ve been dead since the end of the last war!”

“Ah, death is only an obstacle to my success young Rey,” Emperor Palpatine announced, stepping out of the portal toward her. 

“I’m dreaming! This is all a dream! You’re not real!” Rey screamed, running away from him until she was stopped by a shock of lightning hitting her in the back. 

“This is real, Rey. And you will be the key to my rise again,” Palpatine continued to strike her with the blue lightning making her scream and convulse in pain. 

“NO, NOOOO!”

*

Ben and Leia sat outside the med bay, continuing their discussion about how they were doing and exchanging information which would be beneficial for the resistance. This was until they both felt a tremor in the force followed by Rey’s screaming. They gave each other a confused look and ran back in to check on Rey. 

“NO!!” Rey kept screaming, holding herself in the fetal position. 

“Hey, hey, it’s okay,” Ben whispered sitting on the bed and taking her into his arms. As soon as he did, she grabbed a hold of him so quickly it made him jump, “Rey?”

“Palpatine, he’s back. He’s back and he’s coming for me,” she cried into his sweater.

Ben and Leia gave each other confused looks at what Rey was saying. 

“Rey, you were having a nightmare. You have a concussion so this is probably just a side effect,” Leia reached a hand out to comfort her as well, “You’ve just been through a lot of trauma, but you are safe here.”

Rey’s breathing was still erratic but Ben could feel her calming down. 

“I’m sorry…” Rey said after she finally calmed down enough.

“It’s okay,” Ben whispered, rubbing her back soothingly, “are you hungry?”

Rey thought for a moment. She wasn’t sure how long she was out, but she realized very quickly that she was savagely hungry. 

“Yes, very actually,” She breathed out, relaxing her grip on poor Ben. 

“I’ll go grab some for both of you,” Leia said and walked out of the med wing, but not before giving her son a wink. 

Ben rolled his eyes at his mom and chuckled softly, “Are you okay?”

“Yeah,” Rey laughed to herself, “I’m sorry. I don’t know what got into me.”

“I understand,” Ben whispered, moving a strand of hair out of her face. He looked down and saw that her leg was up, “You need to lay down, your leg is still broken.”

“Okay,” Rey moved to lay down slowly to avoid hurting herself more, “I’m not usually this fragile. You’ve caught me at a terrible time.”

“I’m glad you didn’t know me as Kylo Ren,” Ben laughed, “That would have been far worse. Trust me, you are perfectly fine.”

They both laughed as Ben moved off the bed to tuck Rey back in with the thin sheets. 

“Are you warm enough?” Ben asked, feeling the sheets between his fingers. 

“Eh, I’m okay, I just need some food.”

“Me too… I think this is the first time in a while that I’ve felt like I’ll actually get to enjoy eating food rather than just forcing myself to eat in order to survive.”

“I know the feeling,” Rey said, reaching out her hand for Ben to take.

When they touched, there was a wave of stress just wiped away, like their union balanced the area around them. 

“Whoah,” Rey said, looking down at their intertwined hands, “That’s intense.”

Ben chuckled, “Not as intense as that kiss on the Supremacy,” he smirked pulling her hand up to his face and placing it over his jaw and lower cheek. It felt very intimate and gave Rey a shiver of anxiety.

“Yeah… I’m sorry. I don’t know what came over me.”

“You don’t have to apologize. That was the first kiss I’ve gotten in years. It was nice,” he gave her the sweetest smile which made her feel a bit better. 

“My feelings are honestly a roller coaster around you. It scares me. I haven’t been nearly this close to anyone in my entire life.”

“I understand… Don’t ever feel like you owe me your intimacy, Rey. We may be a dyad, but that doesn’t mean we have to be together in any way other than friends… you don’t even owe me that.”

Rey giggled and pulled Ben’s face to her to place a soft kiss on his lips, “I very much would like to be intimate with you… I just need time to get used to it.”

“I have all the time in the world,” Ben smiled, running his fingers through her hair, “especially for you.”

They leaned in for another kiss when a voice stopped them.

“Ha, smooth as your father,” Leia smirked, handing Rey and Ben their food. 

Rey’s face was bright red and so was Ben, but he smirked slightly thinking about how proud his father would probably be of him right now. 

*

As Ben and Rey playfully ate their food together talking about what they were going to do while she was healing, another more serious discussion was being held.

“General Organa, with all due respect, I know this is your own son, but he is a war criminal. He needs to at the very least be watched carefully at all times and at most put to death.”

“Oh come on, the death penalty? You can’t be serious!” Finn exclaimed, “General we can’t-”

“My son will not be put to death, Dystra,” Leia said with irritation in her voice, “He will pay his dues and be put into the high-security brig until he proves his allegiance to our cause. He will aid in the training of Finn and any other force-sensitive beings we come across. He will also do all of the sanitation workers.”

Everyone in the crowd seemed to agree to this arrangement, but one was still not quite convinced.

“And what if he doesn’t prove himself?” 

Leia paused and looked down at her hands, “I will deal with that… personally.”

The trio standing in the crowd, shuttered together at the tone of Leia’s voice when she said that. It was filled with pain, but everyone knew that she never said anything she didn’t mean. Should Ben step out of line, his own mother would take action to keep the resistance safe. She had many times before called the order to fire on areas she knew Ben was. She would hold her breath every time and hoped that that blast wouldn't take her son, but she knew that this was the cost of freedom… The triany of the First Order would kill a trillion more lifeforms if she didn’t fight.

As everyone filed out of the meeting room, Rose approached Leia to hand her the notes from the meeting and give her an update on supplies.   
“Thank you, Rose, I appreciate the help,” Leia said with a soft smile. 

“It’s no problem General… Are you alright?”

Rose knew the answer to the question, but she also knew that in many ways, Leia was alone. Yes, she had the Resistance, but she was their general. She had to be strong for an entire group of people against a tyrannical government. All eyes were on her to be strong and resilient, but Rose could tell those walls were falling after the death of Han. She has slowly been breaking down since. Now with her son back, but under her careful observation, she was overstressed as it was. She needed someone to talk to, and Rose Tico knew from having an older sister that having someone to talk to helped work through hard times.

“I have faith in my son, but I know he’s been through so much. I don’t know if he’ll be okay or if he’ll fall into his old habits… I just don’t have the time to supervise him.”

Rose thought for a moment and came up with something that might just work.

“I would be up to watch him for you. I finish all of my work in my own quarters other than counting supplies, so I could just bring Ben along for my inventory. I’d be okay with staying in the room next to him in High sec, and I could create his schedule in a way to make sure he is always with someone so that we know where he is at all times.”

“You would really be up for that Rose?”

“Yes, anything to help the resistance. I think, should he prove himself, he will be a good soldier for us. I assume he is also a good pilot like Han, and that Mandalorian girl he brought with him will be useful. 

Leia chuckled to herself enough to confuse Rose.

“Did I say something funny, General?” Rose laughed.

“Oh, the Mandalorian girl. She and Ben seem to have a thing for each other.”

Leia smirked at Rose. 

“Well, we did witness her kiss him on the Supremacy,” Rose giggled, taking Leia’s arm, “Do you think he’ll be able to keep her?”

“Oh, I have a feeling this one is a keeper for him. Solo men are very... Charming.”

Rose laughed almost toppling over from her own imagination of what Han must have been like if he were younger. 

“Oh, and Rose?”

“Yes, Leia?”

“Do be kind to Ben, he can take orders from a woman, but I think he will need some help to stay on the light side of the force. Giving him positive feedback would do him well.”

“You think I’d be mean,” Rose said almost offended.

Leia gave her a look followed by, “You remind me far too much of myself when I was younger… I was a bit… brash. Much like yourself.”

They both laughed together as they left the meeting room together to give Ben and Rey their assignments. 

Laughter and smiles were rare at the resistance base, but it was not surprising that the return of Ben Solo would be the cause. It was as if Han himself was with them all over again.


End file.
